How A Common Peon Pursues His Dreams And Build A Billion Dollar Business From Scratch?

His father wanted him to be a lawyer like his grandfather. But it wasn't something he wanted to do in his life. His mind was blocked to turn it into a great dream city - Mumbai. He wasn't a business student or family, but he drew wealth through hard work and built a larger-than-life brand.

Today we are scaling the journey of a simple man who became the 45th richest Indian on the 2012 Forbes list. He is the founder of Pidilite Industries and his only vision paved the way for famous brands like Fevicol, Fevikwik, M-Seal, Dr. He entered state law school and stirred a group of friends a month after living in an acquaintance's office.

An unfinished Degree

It was a matter of time when Mahatma Gandhi's movement to leave India had taken over the whole country. Balvant was also affected by the wave and decided to drop out of school in the middle. With no intention of farming and without degrees, he volunteered for social services for one year and then returned to Mumbai. He graduated and even passed the bar exams. But the pile of lies that came with the job made him unhappy and gave up despite his family's opposition. He was now married and had an additional financial burden. It was a difficult situation for her, as she had to earn money and live without any help.

After days of fighting, he found work in a dry cleaning and printing shop. Here, too, he had to deal with the personal needs of his boss, whom Balvant hated. So he quit his job and took a part-time job in a logging office. It didn’t work for him either and he looked for better opportunities. At the time he was living with his wife in a friend's hostel for a monthly rent of 14 rupees. He died in 2013 but began to bring his children and grandchildren to show shelter. It was from there that he started the network and gave the traders concerned a list of import-export items. After some time, he started selling Mahuva ghee in Mumbai.

A new beginning

However, these businesses did not last long and he needed more money to run his family. Now he was the father of a boy and his younger brother had also started living with him. Parekh founded Pidilite in 1954 as a small chemical trader, then began to make colored emulsions for textile printing with his brother Sushil Parekh, who is now vice president.

In 1959, they saw a market for artificial glue. Since then, febicol has become the equivalent of glue and Indian marbles swear by it. It has 70% of the white glue market and sells similar products manufactured by national and foreign companies. Its products are also sold to the United States, Brazil, Thailand, Egypt, Bangladesh, and Dubai.

Permanent stamp

With its fun and creative advertising, the uninteresting Fevicol brand became a product that surpassed marble, who its target customers were, and became a household name that sounded like an unbreakable bond. Ogilvy and Mather created several commercials for themselves as a remote fisherman with the help of Fevikwick, a girl with a mustache stuck to her face and Fevicol is reborn with a mustache, an unbreakable egg laid by a hen that she was ripping out of the Fevicol box, and much more.

Balvant has always believed that there is no big step if you follow the passion of your dreams. He said that passion has to come from within. He said that one should have enough money to live comfortably and stay 100 percent for everything one does. His business is now run by his son Madhukar and Ajay Parekh.

Today they have over 200 products and over 2,000 employees and earned 7,443 billion rupees in 2020, of which 1,119 million rupees were in profit.

Balvant Parekh's efforts, determination, and constant struggle for a better result have resulted in one of India's most popular brands. As a voracious reader, he always encouraged people to keep learning new things.

His journey from zero to one of India's greatest industrialists motivates us to become the best version of ourselves. Share the story so more people can be inspired.