SMBWrap: Tracing the path taken by the world’s largest gold financing company and other top SMB stories of the week
This week, SMBStory covered some inspiring business journeys: from a man who did odd jobs to make ends meet and went on to start a real estate business to the story of the Kerala-based gold financing company Muthoot Finance.
There seems to be no end to the coronavirus pandemic, but businesses seem to be gradually finding their way out of this situation.
Things may not be normal yet, but businesses are working hard to help the situation normalise. As MSME Day approaches, SMBStory is planning an MSME Week with some exciting panels and one-on-one interactions. The coming week will celebrate India’s most loved brands that are also the economy’s backbone.
This week, SMBStory focuses on the stories of Gulshan Homz, which was started with the vision of having a reliable and transparent real estate business, and , the Kerala-based gold financing company that is helping MSMEs survive with the help of gold loans.
Muthoot Finance
George Alexander Muthoot, MD, Muthoot Finance
Gold loans, which for decades have been a quick and popular way for small businesses to provide liquid working capital, are now seeing an increase in demand, according to George Alexander Muthoot, Managing Director, Muthoot Finance, the largest gold financing company in the world.
Muthoot Finance has its roots in a wholesale grains and timber trading business started by Muthoot Ninan Mathai in 1887. The modest trading business was initially located in Kozhencherry, a village in the erstwhile kingdom of Travancore in Kerala.
It was then taken over by the founder’s son M George Muthoot, who incorporated the finance division of the group in 1939. The finance business, a partnership firm named Muthoot M. George & Brothers (MMG), was a chit fund. In 1971, it was renamed Muthoot Bankers, and began to finance loans using gold jewellery as collateral. The company was incorporated as a private limited company in 1997 under the name The Muthoot Finance Private Limited.
Since then, the company has moved its headquarters to the city of Kochi and diversified into housing loans, vehicle loans, personal loans, money transfer, insurance, and microfinance.
Gulshan Homz
Gulshan Nagpal, Founder and MD, Gulshan Homz
Before becoming a real-estate developer and starting Gulshan Homz, Founder Gulshan Nagpal used to do a series of odd jobs to make ends meet. He would drive an auto-rickshaw, conduct tuition classes, and sell medicines. One day, the young man decided he wanted to build a house for his family in Delhi.
At that time, he didn’t know he would go on to become a good builder, or even start a real estate business.
He started Gulshan Homz in Delhi in 1989, and began constructing independent homes in East Delhi. The focus later shifted to building premium multiple housing projects in the Delhi-NCR region. Today, 31 years since inception, the business has carved out a niche for itself in high-end luxury residential projects, it claims, adding that in FY20, it sold 522 units across its three projects – Gulshan Ikebana, Gulshan Botnia, and Gulshan Bellina in Noida.
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We suggest you also read the other top SMB stories of the week:
Hula Global
Karan Bose, Founder, Hula Global
The nationwide lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March to fight the coronavirus pandemic came like a bolt from the blue for businesses. With salaries and overhead costs to pay, business units across India feared shutdown, and entrepreneurs were in dire straits.
While some entrepreneurs are still striving hard to stay afloat in the business, others are pivoting operations to not just survive, but also thrive during the pandemic.
Karan Bose, Founder of Hula Global, a garment manufacturing company, also pivoted his business to manufacture N95 masks and surgical gowns, among other essential items, in the time of coronavirus. He says he decided to diversify to run the business operations and tide over the tough times.
Beanly
Coffee is not merely a beverage. It is drunk by millions to soothe the inner faculties of the body and the mind, and to start the day on an energetic note. It even became a quarantine trend. Remember the whipped coffee or the ‘dalgona coffee’?
Founded in 2018 by two friends — Rahul Jain and Samayesh Khanna — Beanly aims to provide fresh coffee beans to its customers.
Rahul, a jeweller by profession, and Samayesh, who ran an accelerator, founded Beanly because they were very passionate about coffee and had significant interest in the coffee-making business.
“Coffee starts losing its flavour and aroma 17 minutes after the beans are ground. Hence, by the time the coffee reaches the customer, it is not in its fresh form,” says Samayesh.
“Always going to the cafe is not an option. We want to bring freshly brewed coffee to homes at affordable prices,” he says. Though the founders didn’t reveal their turnover, they added that the company sells 30,000 to 50,000 coffee packs a month.
Edited by Teja Lele
