All of us go through bad days in our lives and these days can make you or break you. It all depends on how you seem to look at them and how determined are you towards your goals. Shilpa, a 34-year-old mother based in Mangalore who went through hell and back, now owns a food truck and is a successful woman entrepreneur.
She completed her education to standard 10th and lived a happy and contented life. After getting married, she moved to Mangalore with her husband, Rajashekar, a city-based businessman. After a few years of their marriage, he went to Bangalore stating some business purpose but never returned. He left Shilpa with their three-year-old son. Their families tried looking for him and also lodged a complaint, but nothing helped.
Only when the bills started to pile up and with no money in her hands, Shilpa started taking small jobs. But with an income of only Rs 6000, it didn’t help meeting her needs and so she started looking for other better options.
One day, during a family conversation, everyone started praising about Shilpa’s cooking skills and emphasized about her ability to make delicious Karnataka cuisine. For all this time, experimental cooking was her hobby but this time she was thinking about it seriously. She told her brother about starting a venture which serves healthy food.
While leaving, her husband did not leave a single penny for them but she had Rs 1 lakh in her bank account which she saved for her child’s education. After a lot of thinking she used up that money. She saw a Mahindra showroom nearby and planned on getting a truck but 1Lakh wasn’t enough for it and so she had to sell her jewelry.
In 2015, she bought a Mahindra Bolero pick-up truck and started a food joint called Halli Mane Rotties.
She was criticized by many for her decision to sell north Karnataka cuisine in South Karnataka. But to everyone else’s surprise, her stall became a hit and everyone was gob smacked. Working from 4 pm to 10 pm every day, she earns around Rs10,000 every day. They key to her popularity is the material from her hometown and they don’t add additives or colors thereby keeping the food homely.
For having online visibility, a few students helped her map her food truck on Google maps which only added to her customer base. She also plans on opening a second outlet with her brother and Anand Mahindra has offered to buy her Bolero as an investment.
Today with a turnover of Rs 3 lakh a month, she has set an example that our fate lies in our hands.
