EIE5 - Corporate to Food Distribution Business, with Manishi Dave

Empowering Indian Expats: Create more Impact & Influence, beyond just making a living

Manishi comes from extensive corporate experience working with likes of PWC, KPMG, Essar and Tech Mahindra.

His journey into entrepreneurship has been interesting.

He recalls Steve Jobs statement "we can only connect the dots backward"

After he left his senior IT executive job, he started to consult with SMEs.

During that time, a relative of his from India who was in the food business and had already expanded to the UK requested Manishi for a bit of research in Australia.

He did but nothing concrete came out.

However, something interesting happened at the back of this research.

A manufacturer offered to supply Ghee knowing Manishi was an Indian.

With no knowledge in the food distribution business,

What made Manishi get into Ghee distribution?

How did he do market research?

How did he price his product?

How did he differentiate his product from existing brands?

How did he manage branding, packaging and distribution?

What challenges did he face in the initial days?

Did he have to borrow money?

What mistakes did he do?

Did he have failures?

What did he learn from those failures?

Manishi answers all of these questions.

Based on his 6-7 years of experience,

he also shares a step-by-step strategy to start any fast-moving consumer goods distribution business.

He believes it's the perfect time to be part of the local supply chain as the global distribution channels are broken due to Covid.

He also talks about entrepreneurial mindset, resources for success and his influences.

RESOURCES:

Manishi's coordinates:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/manishirdave/

http://www.gopaljiglobalfoods.com

Book Recommendations:

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Ehsan's coordinates:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alimohammadehsan/