Well, when we talk about an Entrepreneur, we often assume that person to be above certain number of age. However, this young man has proved this assumption wrong by becoming the youngest entrepreneur from north east region.
Hironmoy Gogoi began his journey towards becoming an entrepreneur by establishing his own startup called MCH Technologies. He worked in many reputed companies as Ops Manager, Business Development Manager, Floor Supervisor, Team Lead, Quality Analyst and V&A Trainer. Hironmoy also worked in Malaysia at the age of 18.
He is currently working on web series ‘Hopun Roshar Mon’ through which he wants to inspire young minds. He is also a founder of very successful Assam brand GKK (Gaon Ka Khana) which is inspiring rural livelihood immensely.
Hironmoy received many appreciations and recognition for his entrepreneurial work, motivational talk and social concept of accelerating rural economy. So far he received two national awards. He is one of the most popular youth icon from Northeast India.
In conversation with Hironmoy…
Which factor motivated you to move towards business sector? How was your initial struggle?
After the sudden demise of my elder brother in a road accident when I was just 15 and few years later my mother due to illness when I was 18 after a long tragic struggle of over 12 years to save her life, I started accepting whatever life throws at me as a challenge and to respond back with precise actions without wasting tears anymore. There were numerous problems to continue my further studies and to live my dream starting from depression, familial instability to financial drawbacks but I never cheated on my dream and I never wanted to make the burning problems of my life as an excuse of my failures in life. So in order to ignite the spark in me, I converted the biggest tragedy of my life (mother passed away) into my biggest motivation to let the entire world know who I am one day. Hence, I developed a strong fight back attitude in life to win my dreams. Secondly, I had a desire to solve real world problems by impacting rural livelihood and to keep an earning source for the next generation as a gift through self creativity.
My initial struggle was very difficult as I had executed the business in a small town like Sivasagar, where the economy is very unstable. It’s very challenging to scale a business with inadequate resources.
Can you brief us on your first startup?
MCH Technologies was the first startup that I founded and it was the first international BPO from NE to work on multiple campaigns for foreign clients but due to poor bandwidth connectivity across Assam we suffered voice crackling issues during our productive hours on the floor. So, eventually I made it a virtual startup and started procuring various campaigns from direct foreign clients which we outsource to different centres across India. We are also offering services in web development and graphic designing.
How did you establish GKK? And how is it functioning currently?
We identified good work skills in rural areas and the market need of healthy ethnic food but basically GKK was an experimental project to see whether it’s possible to scale a great business from a small town with minimum investment or not. We wanted to convey the message that business is not just all about investments rather it is also about finding the right idea by identifying the right market needs and then goes your execution credibility. People especially in Assam have a misconception that business is all about a huge investment without which we can’t live it. To be honest, we started GKK with just 10 Rs in hand from our home and ensured the optimum utilization of our available resources. Actually doing a great business became easier than before with the emergence of latest technology.
GKK mainly operates alongside two more wings namely: GKK Naturals which is empowering the farmers and GKK Mondita Snack which is solely for strengthening women skills across rural Assam. Apart from these, please take a note that GKK has enabled few user friendly options in its app for ex: GKK accommodation mode through which an user can book hotel rooms as per their budget across the state, GKK travel mode which enables an user to explore tourist destinations in Assam, GKK relationship mode which let the user to book a table in house to plan their date with customized Assamese cuisine and GKK party mode which enables the user to place orders for western cuisine too which has been initiated in the ops to satisfy customers of any age group. The main intention is Mission 3000+ which means the startup is working hard towards generating more than 3k jobs in rural and semi urban areas to empower them economically. GKK is expanding to six districts in Assam and soon it will enter the national market. Some products of GKK are already reaching doorsteps across India.
I am happy to include that GKK is the winner of this award “Home Grown Business of the year 2017” on 8th Feb 2017 in New Delhi given by Entrepreneur Magazine, co-hosted by Franchise India in media partnership with ET Now and supported by Startup India.
Can you give us some idea about your web series that you are launching?
“Hopun Roshar Mon” which aims at motivating the youths for achieving success in life and to promote entrepreneurship across North East.
Hironmoy Gogoi as “Fitness Model”, what do you want to say about this?
I am hungry for upgrading myself every passing day. Many people made fun of me as I was thin and I responded back with actions not by just words alone. I don’t make noise unnecessarily rather I just work silently and it has truly helped me to give a much better shape to my body.
Before I close my eyes forever, I want to accomplish each and every goal that I really wanted to do. I don’t want to leave any dream and opportunity left behind in life. So I started progressing as a motivational speaker, entrepreneur, writer, fitness model and a singer. What I feel is that if you have not tried anything new then you have not lived the actual life till now.
You worked in many international companies, how has it contributed to your entrepreneurial qualities?
It contributed people management skills and the ability to sell which has empowered me to design my entrepreneurial journey.
Lastly, being youngest and successful Entrepreneur, what according to you is highly required for entrepreneurship and how today’s youth can be attracted to this?
The hunger for learning something new every passing day, improvements and the ability to sell is highly required for best entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is the future of India and the Future India is looking for the Future You. So don’t just study to get a job, study in such a way that you can generate jobs because the world will need you one day. Drive yourself out of your comfort zone to let the world know who you are in the future.
So, did you like his story? Wasn’t it inspiring? Your comments are welcome!
