Everyone calls me DP, short of Durga Prasad Jhawar, guess it saves them from a verbal gymnastics challenge. I think, my grandfather saw me as a divine blessing and decided to make it official, quite literally!Hailing from a humble family in the old-fashioned town of Shahpura in Rajasthan, my journey to the bustling streets of Mumbai wasn't exactly a tale of grand dreams or ambitions.It was more like a 'grab your bags, hope for the best' kind of scenario.

To be honest, there were limited options in my hometown, so when the guys around me moved to Mumbai, I tagged along. With the commerce degree that I had, pursuing CA seemed like the logical next step.Worried about the expenses, I leaned on the support of my elder brother, who stood by me during tough times. Anyway and luckily so, returning was not an option.

Little did I know, the city was going to school me in survival skills. From crashing on the floors of a chawl in Kalbadevi before securing admission at RVG to being a desi boy fumbling through English (let's just say there were some amusing "lost-in-translation" moments ), or meticulously managing day-to-day expenses on a tight budget, every day was a struggle.

However, amidst all this, life at RVG was a blast! I fondly remember, on the weekends, when the mess was closed for evenings, many students headed out to visit relatives or dine elsewhere. However, I had no close relatives to visit, and with a tight budget, dining out was not an option. So every weekend, I and a few others in the same boat would gather for a humble meal of Maggi and bread namkeen for dinner. Surprisingly, despite the simplicity of our dinner, we found ourselves laughing and joking late into the night, our spirits untouched by our constraints. Then there were times when I dodged trips and outings with creative excuses, but a friend generously pulled me along, covering my expenses too. Well! I could go on for hours reminiscing about my time at RVG, where I not only made lifelong friends but also cherished countless memories. I must admit, that we humans often fall short when it comes to expressing gratitude, and I feel I can never thank my friends, family and RVG enough for their unwavering support. It was this support that gave me the resilience to navigate Mumbai's challenges and pass the CA exams.

My professional journey began humbly as an Accounts Manager at Bee Electronics. I was at a lesser salary than my batchmates due to my language skillsor lack thereof. Then began the struggle to find a place where the rent wouldn't devour my entire paycheck.I ended up taking additional jobs in the evenings and weekends to make ends meet. Things took a turn for the better when I became Finance Manager at Amoli Organics and then eventually landed a role as Financial Controller at Edelweiss in 2005.

Edelweiss was a series of firsts for me. I managed the companys first public issue, got its first credit rating, started the borrowing desk, and set up its cash flow operations and fixed-income treasury teams. However, my big break came when Edelweiss opened doors for the entrepreneur within me. I was fortunate to get the opportunity, which I seized with all my limbs, to build a Commodities Business at Edelweiss from the ground up. In a few years, we grew to over 800-people team with a presence in India, Dubai, Singapore and African countries. In both the precious metals and agri commodities there was a dearth of organised players in the market, which gave us a competitive advantage. By FY15, we had transformed the commodity business into one of the organization's most profitable units.

My grandfather was a businessman and I had seen him struggling after a big setback he took in a trade. Business, I guess, was in my blood, but the importance of organisation and risk management I learned during my stint at Edelweiss, Can we afford it? and Is it worth it? got etched in my brain.

With this experience and a persistent entrepreneurial keeda in my head, I embarked on a new chapter in 2015, founding ProV. And to be honest, it was a humbling experience. I learned the importance of little things I once took for granted at Edelweiss. I realized the true value of the 'kursi' I held at Edel. ProV was like my startup crash course. It was like raising a child, aconstant source of headaches and sleepless nights but you love the experience. I stumbled, struggled, learned, and persevered until things finally stabilised.

ProV's journey began humbly in a shared office space in Andheri, with just three of us: myself and my colleagues Deepak Agarwal and Shalin Khanna from Edelweiss(now we are 60 people on rolls and almost 200 off rolls).We noticed that the retail dry fruit market in India was incredibly fragmented, and filled with localized brands mostly driven by consumer trust and supply chain challenges. What made it interesting was that there was not much standardisation of quality or price and the market was dominated by the traditional Kirana stores. Recognizing an opportunity to establish an organized presence in this sector, we also understood the market's sensitivity to cost. To grasp the nuances of the retail market and address supply chain issues, we started first with wholesale operations. Gradually, we launched retail SKUs while steadily refining our supply chain and establishing our own processing unit.

But then, life seldom goes as planned. Just as we began to see progress, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. With so much uncertainty during the initial days of the lockdown, the prices of dry fruits fell by 25 to 50% causing a huge financial setback. Our factory was closed completely for six months due to a severe shortage of labour and transport. We desperately waited for things to open up while we continued to incur expenses on rent and salaries further straining our finances. In trying to rectify the situation at the factory, I got infected with covid which further compounded our struggles. Finally, faced with the daunting prospect of business survival, I went to my hometown (things were better in small towns) to find job workers to process the stock we had and tried to salvage whatever we could. We persevered and sailed through.

But then, as they say, what does not break you, makes you stronger. During the later part of the pandemic period and post-pandemic, we witnessed a surge in demand for dry fruits and healthy snacking options. ProV was back in business with a more confident team. However, the pivotal moment in our journey came when, after months of hard work and passing numerous checks, ProV got listed on the shelves of one of India's biggest retail chain stores. Then, there was no looking back. Gradually, we diversified our portfolio to encompass over 150 retail SKUs, covering nuts, dried fruits, seeds, and nut-based snacks. With efficienciesbuilt by sourcing from direct suppliers from across the world and our own 40,000sf FSSC 22000 certified (internationally recognised certification scheme for food safety) processing unit at Vashi, ProV became well equipped to set its edge by providing premium dry fruits at the best prices.

ProV has since evolved into a pan-India brand, with a presence across e-commerce platforms and prominent retail chain stores. We recently partnered with Sanjeev Kapoor, Padma Shri awardee, and Guinness World record holder Chef, as our mentor and brand ambassador. You will find ProV at Flipkart, Amazon, Big Basket, D-Mart, Reliance, More, Walmart, and many other retail chain stores across the country. I guess, ProV pistachio-ed its path to success, quite literally, as we are almost 10% of the pistachio market in the southern states of India. ProV is also now one of the most-sold brands of almonds on Flipkart and among the top 5 dryfruit brands in India in terms of sales revenue of branded dry fruits.

Last year, ProV achieved significant milestones, including its successful listing on stock exchanges in June 2023 (the only nut-selling company listed on the NSE) and surpassing INR 300 crores in annual retail sales revenue for the ProV brand with almost 2 cr units sold. Noteworthily, this sales revenue is spread equally between Chain stores, Traditional channels, and E-commerce. What brings me pride is that we have achieved this while adhering to our core principles of Quality, Consumer Centricity, and Cost consciousness. Interestingly, thisalso differentiates us from our peers, as we are among the very few companies in the category, to achieve this growth, while maintaining profitability.

However, I feel this is just the beginning.I must share that in my 25 years of professional experience across industries, I have never encountered an environment as conducive to growth as the one we find ourselves in today. We are truly fortunate to be operating in what is aptly termed as the "Amritkal" era, where India stands on the cusp of emerging as the world's third-largest economy and becoming a developed country by 2047. Withso much emphasis on physical and digital infrastructure development, the opportunities are unparalleled, and it is indeed a Carpe Diem moment for businesses in India and the dry fruit market is no exception.

Let me share another interesting data point. Indias current dry fruit market size is around INR 60,000 crs of which, surprisingly only 10% is organised market. This presents an immense potential for growth and expansion. This is also evident from the fact that while the total market is expected to grow by a CAGR of 12%, the branded dry fruit market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25 to 30%. Thus, in the next 4-5 years, we can expect to see the dry fruit market at around INR 90,000 crs of which INR 25,000 crs would be of the branded products. Thats huge.

These truly are remarkable times. Our long-term vision is to emerge as one of India's most preferred dry fruit and healthy snack brands. Unlike other startups in this category, we remain committed to deploying our capital prudently and judiciously to ensure long-term sustainable growth while maintaining profitability. In the medium term, ProVs sights are ambitiously set on the horizon, with a clear goal: to catapult sales revenue to INR 1000 crores by FY28 with a diversifiedproduct portfolio to include snacks, bars, and cereals. With the base that we have painstakingly built over the last few years, I am confident thatProV is ready to harness the winds of change and propel to greater heights.

Personally,when I sit back and reflect on my journey, I'm filled with gratitude for what I have learned and the support I received. Though I am an optimistic person or maybe for me it was always like jo hoga dekha jayega, mostly because, since early in my life I had faced many failures, so it was sort of given and even small successes came as a pleasant surprise, but what helped me the most to grow was, acknowledgement of my limitations and an openness to learn.

I will leave you with my core belief: theres nothing, we can't achieve if we put our hearts and souls into it.

And well, I hope, some of you may agree, that I am winging English better now

Thank you for reading