"Power is the ability to do good, its the ability to make things happen!"
I am always on my toes to write the best I get to share from my entrepreneurial journey. The roller coaster ride is awesome and all challenging.Recently I shifted my company Simbacart - My Baby  to Village Tangra , My hometown - Tier 6 city in Punjab in India. Yes , I am all surrounded by series of challenges such as internet connectivity , logistics , highly skilled employees and much more.Â
Someone rightly said : If you cry at a trouble, it grows double and if you laugh at trouble , it disappears like a bubble" Here I am all passionate to fix my challenges in rural one by one.
The lease line connectivity for Simbacart is an interesting case from the roots of rural.Before this my office was in Chandigarh (One of the Top Cities in India) and Simbacart was served by Vodafone in year 1 of incorporation. Our account manager was Mr. Anuj Sharma , Of course an asset to Vodafone - extremely polite and solution oriented. In year two out of Vodafone , Connect and some local brands in Chandigarh , Connect got the contract on the basis of lowest bidding. We have been served well by both the companies. Some sudden decisions in terms of strategy and we decided to move all to rural - to my village Tangra.
In my heart I was all known to the challenges I am going to face , But if not me then who? Who will be the pioneer in my village? My series of efforts started :
1. I informed to Connect Chandigarh , that we are shifting to my village and if they can provide us lease line in new location. I did not hear from them. Even I didn't follow up as they didnt seem interested.
2. I approached local Connect executive in nearby City Amritsar , but didnt hear from him. I called number of times to their office but nobody came to my village , may be because its nearly 30 kms away from the city.
3. The manager Mr. Anuj from Vodafone Chandigarh called me and confirmed that he will get the task done. My whole business was at halt now. I trusted and was daily following up with him as he has developed good relations with Simbacart. He took more than a month to confirm and finally confirmed that it cannot be done at all. I was shattered , "Why he kept us hold for so long?" Even we lost lot of business. My friend Mr. Ranjith , also tried to garb some information from top management, where he shared that companies are ignoring because of huge CAPEX.
4. I connected to Tarun from Tata Docomo Chandigarh , who was earlier manager with Vodafone. He also tried his level best took another weeks time but all in vain. He confirmed it cannot be done.
5. I visited local BSNL Office 10kms from my village , Met Mr. Rajeev Sood , Requested them too, but nothing materialized. They were all polite but I was just directed to call here and there but nobody supported my cause of serving rural.
6. In the meantime , I got connection of a local company Beyond  and my work started but there is huge issue in service and even it shut down for more than 12 hours sometimes. Not at all healthy for my business.
7. I opened up my LinkedIn and started searching all who are connected with me from various telecom companies and dropped them an email. I was immediately responded by Mr. Rakesh Kumar - VP Airtel , Mumbai on the issue I am facing. I was all listened patiently. I briefed all and also told about the cause Simbacart is supporting. How much my rural kids needs perfect internet  and how much my company is all focused on skill development in rural and how I am all passionate along with my team to build a healthy upto date learning campus here in My Village Tangra.Â
"Logic can get you from A to B .. Execution and Courage to make things happen will take you everywhere" Â All the companies applied logic to my village , I believe they could have done it in some or the other way. Finally Airtel confirmed to put up lease line in my village Tangra , there were definately many logical complexities but they believed in resolving and make it happen. Â While the others , simply rejected IGNORING OUR CAUSE.
"We rise by lifting others" It's never about only logic! Its about Standing Out In Crowd. Its a gutsy play - its all about execution!
Thank You Airtel! Its a proud moment for the team!
My Honest WritingsÂ
Mandeep