A Telangana man started a millet food firm to help poor farmers. Veer Shetty’s SS Bhavani Foods is now an Rs. 1 crore company.
Veer Shetty intended to start a millet food company to serve the underprivileged, 15 years ago when he decided to get out of his dull routine and do something good for the needy at the same time.
And now, the Telangana guy who failed out of ninth grade has helped thousands of farmers, won multiple awards, and built an Rs. 1 crore firm called SS Bhavani Foods.
Here’s a look at the 48-year-incredible old’s journey…
Veer was never particularly intellectually gifted as a child, and he dropped out of school after the ninth grade.
Money was limited because his father was a farmer, and Veer needed to cover his costs, so he began performing odd jobs and finally began working as an assistant to Dr. C.H. Ravindra Reddy.
Veer soon opened a modest shop in Hyderabad with a Rs 25,000 investment while continuing to work full-time at his profession.
He says, “Previously, they would insult me, claiming no one would buy my food,” but now people line up to get their hands on it. The items we make are nutritional, healthful, and immune-boosting.”
Veer titled his company SS Bhavani Foods Private Limited, and it has grown from an Rs. 25,000 investment to an Rs. 1 crore turnover per year.
Veer’s business has grown from a single shop to 13 acres of property with 20 staff.
These are largely women, and he intends to empower them by providing them with employment options.
Now, 15 years later, he has various stores across India, including Delhi and Hyderabad, with some already open and others in the works.
His factory is located in his hometown of Chandanagar, Hyderabad, and it produces around 25 millet goods such as kadak bhakri, chivda, laddu, millet rava, and millet atta.
He has also lately launched a product called Millovit Health Mix, which purports to enhance immunity and protect against Covid-19 infection.
Given the plight of farmers in our country, Veer wanted to do everything in his power to assist the farmers with whom he worked, so he founded the Swayam Shakthi Agri foundation in 2016, a non-profit organization that assists farmers by creating awareness programs that provide them with creative ideas, new technologies, and so on.
Currently, the charity is assisting at least a thousand farmers.
Veer also intends to employ needy individuals from Hyderabad’s villages.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) recognized Veer’s commitment to improving the lives of farmers and invited him to perform his awareness programs in 8 villages in the Sangareddy district as part of their project, ‘Farmer First.’
Veer Shetty has also received numerous awards for his work in improving farmers’ lives, millet agricultural technologies, and value-added millet products.
In 2017, he received the ‘Millet Man of Telangana Award,’ the ‘Best Farmer Award,’ the ‘Dr. M.V. Rao Memorial Award,’ and the ‘Best Millet Misharayya Award’ from the Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR) Hyderabad.