When people in his community want to leave their traditional profession of pottery making, this Gujarati entrepreneur has built upon his knowledge of the sector and innovative skills to create a successful global brand
If you ask Mansukhbhai Prajapati, a Gujarati entrepreneur, the secret of wealth creation, he would say ‘work on your strengths and advantages and use your innovative skills’. Prajapati hails from potter community. When many people doing the same profession finding it difficult to make both ends meet, he is doing business worth crores of rupees. According to him, what made the difference is that he used technology and made his products consumer-friendly. While other potters stuck to the traditional ways of production, his company Mitticool Clay Creation manufactures all kinds of consumer products such as refrigerators, water heaters, cookers, hot plates and kitchen wares out of clay. Prajapati, a resident of Nichimandal in Rajkot, exports his products to several countries.
Prajapati tasted success when he first made a fridge out of clay that doesn’t require electricity. It turned out to be an instant hit when he unveiled the product. According to Prajapati, his clay refrigerator is as efficient as products of multinational companies like that of LG and highly cost-effective as it costs a paltry Rs 2,000. He claims that water stays cold for a week, fruit and vegetables fresh for a week, while milk can be preserved for three days. “This fridge is very healthy and preserves the original taste of vegetables and fruits,” says Prajapati.
Prajapati says he was confident that his traditional profession his strong point when he set up Mitticool. Although he is not educated much, he has strong business acumen. “When people in my community were not willing to send their children to traditional profession, I have no plans to leave this. I used innovative skills to make it more relevant to the customers,’ he added.
According to him, his company’s turnover has crossed several crores. He has sold over 5 lakh products ever since it started. Prajapati is among the new breed of several hundred grassroots innovators in India who are using imagination and innovation to solve basic issues of deprivation at the bottom of the pyramid.
Mitticool’s products are available in online platforms and retail chains such as Big Bazaar. His products are a big hit among customers in USA, UK and African countries, thanks to the National Innovation Foundation (NIF). The NIF, which supports grassroots inventors like Prajapati, has received queries from more than 50 countries to buy these locally-made products or build businesses on the back of Indian innovations. The foundation, which has around 120,000 innovations and traditional knowledge practices under its umbrella, has sold many of these innovative products in markets across six continents.
