DJ turns entrepreneur to sell farsan through FarsanKart

Thursday February 28, 2013 , 4 min Read

The cultural capital of Gujarat is well-known for its culture and arts, but a Gujarati loves his farsan and khakras. So while cities like Ahmedabad have their own thriving startup ecosystem, neighboring towns like Vadodara are getting equally competitive. Darshan Dhruv, the brain behind FarsanKart, is an energetic person from Vadodara. As a teenager, Darshan always had the urge to be independent and work from himself, rather than be dependent on his parents. He worked his way through college as a DJ while pursing under-grad from Vadodara. Later he went abroad to pursue his masters and worked for four years with a leading MNC, before quitting his job to come back home.

In India, Darshan joined his family business of packaging, but was never satisfied doing “the regular stuff.” And then, entrepreneurship “clicked”. Being the foodie that he is, Darshan was clear that he wanted his business to revolve around food. A business in the QSR segment did cross his mind, but then he decided to leverage his family’s expertise in the packaging space. So people around him were surprised when he declared that he plans to sell farsan online. Because we have all heard of selling books, clothes accessories and flowers online, but farsan was something very unique.

And maybe that is why it is a good idea. Today FarsanKart sells farsans from Vadodara’s leading farsan stores like Payal, Sukhadia, Jagdish, and mukhwas from Vadodara’s famous JK Mukhwas. And Darshan is not just thinking local with farsan’s. He is tapping the large population of Gujjus abroad who love their farsans, besides catering to the Indian market. FarsanKart’s international portal: www.global.farsankart.com caters to UK, USA and Canada and Darshan plans to reach 160 countries in another two years. Till date, he has sold over 500 packs in India and 100 abroad.

Darshan is optimistic that in the next few years there will be a complete change in the way people shop and eCommerce is sure to play an important role in the whole space. “With increasing traffic and congestion on road, soon people would not want to visit shops for trivial purchases,” believes Darshan. He also insists on supplying directly to the end consumers and not to other shops that would want to sell the products.

Talking about the startup ecosystem in different cities, Darshan agrees that Bangalore would have been an ideal place to be in. But starting up in a city like Vadodara has its own advantages, like cheap resources and quick support for one. He feels that if you have a good idea then most other factors cannot be a deterrent to your aspirations.

“Setting up a new business was a big challenge in itself. When you are self-funded and have to take care of every minor detail yourself, it can be quite a task,” explains Darshan. But he is not worried, because the joy of getting up each day to do something he likes, keeps him going. On a concluding note, he adds that, "I believe in what I do and always do things with sincerity and 100% dedication. The journey from a DJ to becoming an owner of an ecommerce business was a hell of a ride.” Darshan wants FarsanKart to become a world-renowned brand that sells the best Gujarati farsan. Being known for their timely service is another aspect he is keen on.

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