Rs 2 cr in 2 years: this writer-cum-entrepreneur has made dairy farming a profitable business

Thursday February 22, 2018 , 3 min Read

Santosh Sharma did a series of jobs before landing a high paying one with Air India in 2007. He worked as the assistant manager of its Kolkata branch for a few years before a chance encounter with APJ Abdul Kalam.

That meeting with the former president of India set Santosh on an entrepreneurial journey and he started a dairy farm with just eight cattle. The M'ma farms was started in 2014, and within a short span of time, he has earned Rs 2 crore in revenue.

Santosh was born in Jharkhand's Jamshedpur, into a family with limited means. That made him want to work hard to achieve great heights and, at the same time, he was also passionate about giving back to society. That is why after working for a few years, he started studying for civil service examinations. However, he quit studying eventually and got back to working for multinational companies.

The opportunity to give back to the society came unexpectedly, when he met Abdul Kalam more than a decade ago. Kalam showed Santosh the path not just to become an entrepreneur with his dairy farm, but also to impact the lives of young people in a meaningful way.

Santosh started M'ma dairy farm in 2014 on the eve of Republic Day, in Dalma, one of the most Naxal-affected areas of Jharkhand, according to KJ. He invested all his life savings in the farm and bought eight cattle. In just a short span, he has made a revenue of Rs 2 crore and he has also started an organic farm.

Through this, Santosh provides employment opportunities to the deserving and marginalised sections of the society. Talking about his work to The Telegraph, he said,

Ours is a pilot project that can be replicated in other districts as a sustainable working model for jobless youths neglected by the government and private sectors.

Though he is a full-time entrepreneur, Santosh also finds time to write and he is a motivational speaker too. He has published two books so far and has received numerous awards for his work including Star Citizen Honour award, Tata's Alankar Award Youth Icon Award from Jharkhand government.