Musthafa Computer was born in a remote village of Kerala. His father, a day-to-day wage worker, was not properly educated himself and dreamed of educating his children – but Musthafa says he decided to drop out of college right after failing Class 6 to join his father on the farm. “We barely earned Rs 10 in daily wages. Eating three meals a day was a distant dream. I’d tell myself, ‘Right now, food is more important than education’,” he shared with Humans of Bombay in an interview published Monday.
It was the intervention of a teacher that helped Musthafa Computer return to college – a move that would ultimately aid the farm worker’s son land a properly-paying job and later get started a fresh meals organization that is today one of the most effective of its sort in the nation.
In his interview, Musthafa Computer, CEO of iD Fresh Food, mentioned that a teacher convinced him to return to college and even tutored him no cost of charge. Because of this, he topped his class in math. Encouraged by this, he went on to turn into the college topper. When the time came for him to go to college, his teachers paid his charge.
“When I got placed and earned my first salary of Rs.14,000, I gave it to papa,” Musthafa Computer told Humans of Bombay. “He cried, ‘You’ve earned more than I have in a lifetime!'”
Eventually, Musthafa got a job abroad, earning properly sufficient to spend off his father’s loan of Rs 2 lakh in two months.
But regardless of getting a properly-paying job, he says, he wanted to get started his personal business enterprise. The thought of iD Fresh Food came about when Musthafa’s cousin saw a supplier promoting idli-dosa batter in a plain pouch. The buyer was complaining about the good quality of the solution. Musthafa’s cousin named him with the thought of making a “quality batter company” – and that led to the birth of iD Fresh Food.
Initially, Musthafa Computer invested Rs 50,000 in the organization and let his cousins run the show. They began in a 50 square foot kitchen with a grinder, mixer and a weighing machine.
“It took us over 9 months to sell 100 packets a day,” says Musthafa. Along the way, they made lots of blunders and discovered from them. Once, they had to go back to the drawing board when their batter more than-fermented and brought on a blast in a shop.
“After three years, I realized our company needed me full-time,” says Musthafa. So he quit his job and invested all his savings into his business enterprise, assuring his nervous parents that he could normally get a new job if the business enterprise failed.
For years, the organization struggled and faced serious losses. There have been occasions when they could not afford to spend their workers. “We promised our 25 employees that one day we’d make them crorepatis. They laughed it off, but we gave them shares from our company and said, ‘Be patient!'” recalls Musthafa.
After struggling for eight years, the company’s fortunes changed overnight when they identified investors. “Overnight, we became a 2000 crore company. Finally, we fulfilled the promise we made to our employees; all of them are now millionaires!” says the CEO of iD Fresh Food.
According to The Hindu, iD Fresh Food ended FY21 with Rs 294 crore in income.
Musthafa has one regret – he could not share his good results with his childhood teacher. Today, he honours his legacy by speaking of him each possibility he gets.
“When I returned home, I learnt that he’d passed away. I was heartbroken and thought, ‘If only sir could have seen what a laborer achieved because of him!’ Now, I speak of him every chance I get; to honor his legacy,” he says.
In 2018, Musthafa Computer was invited to speak at Harvard and thanked each his father and his teacher for his good results. “I first told them of the teacher who didn’t let me give up, and then of my father, who still works in his farm diligently, every day,” says Musthafa. “These two men taught me that where you come from doesn’t matter- if you work hard, even a laborer’s son can create a million dollar company.”
“Today, iD is a 100 million dollar brand,” he mentioned in his 2018 speech, a video of which was shared by iD Fresh Food on YouTube that exact same year. According to Bloomberg Quint, in 2017, the firm raised $25 million from PremjiInvest, Azim Premji’s family workplace, valuing the organization at about $one hundred million.
Musthafa PC’s inspiring journey from “school dropout” to CEO has earned him substantially admiration on social media.
“I have used iD products couple of times and I did know that it was a venture started by few professionals but didn’t know it had a very inspiring backup story! Kudos!” wrote one Facebook user.
“Awesome story! You’ve made your parents and teacher proud and you persevered to keep your promise to your employees…” yet another commented.