Quitting Infosys to taking charge of an Ayur Central franchisee, Sanjay Kalburgi's story

Sanjay Kalburgi worked at Infosys before starting an ayurvedic medical shop. His story personifies the spirit of entrepreneurship that YourStory stands for. Tired of the ‘robotic job’ at a large company, Sanjay has taken a plunge by opening a franchisee of Ayur Central. Over the past couple of years, the word ‘starting up’ has become glamorous and a lot of youngsters start off without any firm ground. This story makes a mark because setting up a shop is nothing new but Sanjay and his business partner, Vishwa ’s prudence lies in the fact that they are first trying out a model that works by taking up a franchisee. Here’s what Sanjay has to share about his experience:

Ayur Central is a popular chain of stores in South India for ayurvedic medicines with in-house octor consultation. Heram Reddy and Janadharn, veterans in the field of ayurveda, started the company almost two decades ago from Mysuru. Around late 2013, the company started franchising stores and has now quickly grown to 50 stores, with a majority of them in Bengaluru.

For Sanjay and Vishwa, the entire process of setting up the business was hectic and it took almost six months to get it just right. Ayur Central gives details about how things need to be done and has some guidelines, but everything on the ground has to be done from scratch. “They only give us their brand name and distributor details. Rest of the things needs to be taken by us only,” says Sanjay. Their eight-month training comes in handy though.

Sanjay’s store in Indiranagar currently has two doctors (for a morning and evening slot). “The response for the shop is decent for now. A lot of people come, have a look and go but we are happy for that since people are walking in and we’re happy to help them with whatever doubts they have,” says Sanjay.

Website: Ayur Central