eChai with Phani Trivedi, Founder, WastePro

Our today's guest for eChai with an entrepreneur is Phani Trivedi, Founder, WastePro. Phani prefers to be called a Social entrepreneur. She founded her for-profit enterprise in the year 2011, after a career as an Employee for 9 years. In this tenure, she has worked for credible organizations like ITC Ltd, Confederation of Indian Industry, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain; Mission Mangalam of the Commissionerate of Rural Development, Govt. of Gujarat and lastly the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The burning desire to turn an Employer and start her company led to the birth of Waste.Pro which is into solid waste management solutions for households & industrial set-ups. Rearing to venture a male-dominated and government-centric sector was not an easy decision for her as a woman entrepreneur. But, today as an official stakeholder, she has treated tonnes of waste and prevented waste She has won the best stall award at Vibrant Gujarat 2013 and was officially made part of the stakeholder’s meeting in drafting the new solid waste management rules 2013 of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.

Here is an insightful and candid conversation with Phani.

Early Years : When did it first strike you to begin this venture and why? Your Eureka Moment (the moment you decided to be an entrepreneur).

I was fed up of the inaction of the municipal corporation & watching cows feeding on plastic waste in their search for food. That’s when it first struck me to begin a movement to address this menace & turn into a social entrepreneur. Watching industrialists like Mr. Sanjay Lalbhai, Naishadh Parikh & Chintan Parikh as office bearers at GCCI, I got inspired to quit as an employee of GCCI & turn an employer. That was my Eureka Moment.

Business Venture : What is your business model and what problems does it solve? What are market opportunities? How is it different from your competitors? How do you generate revenues ?

My business model is that of treating waste in a decentralized manner, at the point of generation itself. This type of model solves the problem of waste generated on a daily basis, permanently, for small & big industrial units, educational establishments or households. As the project treats a unit’s waste in their own premises, garden; food & paper waste is prevented from reaching landfill sites.

The organic compost or vermi-compost generated from this scientific process provides organic fertilizer that can either be used in their own landscape/gardens or can be sold to organic farmers/nurseries.

Competitors make the same from mixed municipal solid waste, thus, reducing the quality & quantity of the organic compost. Competitors do not indulge in training or prevent waste from getting mixed with glass, metal, plastic & electronic waste.

I generate revenues by selling Bioculture, Kitchen waste composting kits, selling earthworms & selling vermi-compost to bungalows, farm houses, industries & organic farmers.

Sales : How did you make your first sale and how much time it took you from starting up to closing the first sale ? How long is your sales cycle ?

I made my first sale after I exhibited my brand in a stall at Vibrant Gujarat- 2013. It took a month to close the first sale. My sales cycle ranges between a month to 6 months.

Company Culture : What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture?

I still operate alone & out source my accounting & designing requirements for promoting myself & maintaining my financials. The team I work with includes laborers & supervisors appointed by clients for commissioning the project. I have established a culture of gratification for the work done & also appreciation for the job well done in front of their top management.

Partnerships : What are your views about finding the right Co-Founder ? How did you find your business partner? According to you who is the ideal business partner?

I do not have a business partner but I think an ideal co-Founder is one who completes the picture for you in areas that are not your forte & is also like minded in the context of the venture’s vision.

Hiring - How did you hire your first employee ? And in general what's your hiring policy ? How important have good employees been to your success?

In the pipeline, Yet to discover.

Learning : How did you handle your disappointments and failures?

I handled them by reminded myself the passion that inspired me to start the venture & not looking back till the first 1000 days of the venture were over.

Vision: What's your vision for your venture. What do you want to accomplish in your life ? What are your future aspirations?

The vision of my venture is Giving back to Nature, What belongs to Nature. I want accomplish this by training & campaigning in each & every school of India about Zero Waste Management. My future aspiration is to be known as one of the key social venture companies instrumental in laying the foundation for a Zero Waste Amdavad by 2030.

Work-Life Balance : How do you find a balance between work family and social life?

I don’t try to make evident efforts to balance these three parts of my life because whenever I try to, it always leads to an imbalance & affects my health badly. I try to integrate work & family life & try to lead a flexi social life.

Risks : Which was the boldest decision you ever made to have this venture work?

Quit my job, go against my parents’ wishes & invest all my PF money from job life as seed capital to set up the venture.

Here are some of the amazing photos from her entrepreneurial journey.

 Do checkout the QnA with the community in comments, this is on of the most interesting part of the eChai interviews.