Listen to Amit Jain just below or on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts.
🎤 “In the morning, my mom, my brother, my sister-in-law, we were sitting at the table and I'm like: the company is kicking me out. They're like: why? I'm like: “I don't know, they are doing it for everybody”. They're like: “it's impossible, it has been seven years. Talk to your manager… do this, do that”. “No, they are kicking me out…” I made a story. Why? Because they will never agree to the fact that with US$ 13 in hand, I can survive for a month, eat once in a day, get a high-paying job and leave the job… and coming on ground zero again.
So I made a story. Why did I leave the job? Unlearning what I learned, because I realized that until 2012, when I didn’t have anything, I used to learn a lot of things, but when I got a job, my learning stopped and I didn't get a chance to learn something new. So I thought it’s the right time to unlearn everything because the world has changed, and learn everything from the very beginning… again come to ground zero, again see your bank account with nothing. And then, you know, start your thinking once again, because the world has changed”.
🇮🇳 Amit Jain is the co-founder of Mitti Ke Rang, a social enterprise working towards generating livelihoods for women in India. They train women entrepreneurs to start small businesses and support them to sell their handicrafts across the country.
😄 Amit says he’s always happy - nothing can make him unhappy, except 2 things: when his customers are not satisfied, and when the women entrepreneurs don’t receive money on their bank accounts.
🙏 We discuss his journey escaping poverty, finding a decent job and building Mitti Ke Rang, his gratefulness to all the people who supported him throughout his life and his drive to give back to them.
💸 We go through the evolution of Mitti Ke Rang over the years, from a local charity project in Pune to a national organisation, and the transition from being donation-based to their current social enterprise model.
💪 Amit is a people’s person, always curious and questioning everything, a proud budget traveler and he’s also a good friend of Shomy (Episode 4 - I turned my pain into my life purpose) and Edward (Episode 19 - Financing grassroots innovators) ;)
❤️ TIMELINE:
3’ - Fighting to get a first job
8’ - Starting Mitti Ke Rang to give back
18’ - Partnering with the right co-founder
20’ - If you have a problem, just try and fix it
28’- Keep being curious, keep learning and unlearning, keep connecting with people
42’ - Restarting Mitti Ke Rang from scratch to support grassroots women entrepreneurs and get money in their bank account
62’ - Mitti Ke Rang’s secret e-commerce recipe
74’ - Celebrating small victories
🗒️ References:
To order from Mitti Ke Rang and support them, it’s here.
Connect with Amit on LinkedIn.
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