Journey of Prafull Billore aka MBA Chaiwala

A simple boy from Labravda, a small village in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, who was once a waiter at McDonald’s in Ahmedabad, is today one of the well-known entrepreneurs of the country. Prafull Billore, at the age of 20, threw a teapot on the pavement in Ahmedabad. The journey that started with a tea stall became a brand after 5 years – ‘MBA Chaiwala’. Today in 22 big cities of the country there are branches of ‘MBA Chaiwala’. In cities like Kanpur, Chandigarh, Surat, Gandhinagar, Bhopal.

Currently, two outlets are being prepared in Indore. There is a business in London too. After leaving the village and going to Ahmedabad for further studies, Prafull Billore had dreamed of getting a good package job in a company after preparing for GMAT and Gate and studying at IIMA (Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad). He said he wanted to do something that was in his mind, but it could not happen. The story of his life is no less than a movie. Moreover, other chaiwalas even beat him up after putting tapri.

How did he arrange the money for setting up the cart?

His Friends-relatives made fun of his handcart near B.Com, but his insistence on moving forward gave him that height, where every youth dreams of reaching. He worked at McDonald’s for 5 months after that he decided to do something of his own.  His journey started with 8 thousand rupees. He arranged this money by lying to his father, in the name of an international course. He made a tea stand from it.

The first time when he parked on the road he felt that he was doing a very small thing as he come from a good, educated family. His father was a farmer, mother was a  housewife. Moreover, his younger brother was also studying. Somewhere in life, it seemed very useless. But today he felt he is getting respect, love, love because of the same handcart. ‘MBA Chaiwala’ is a brand that will never die.

How did the name MBA Chaiwala came to his mind?

The cart was first named Mr. Billore. People used to tease him by saying Billo Rani, Cat. After this, he gave it a thought and named it ‘MBA Chaiwala’ – M of Mr, B of Billore, and A of Ahmedabad, that’s how MBA Chaiwala became. After some time in Ahmedabad, his taste of tea destroyed the business of many chaiwalas. Because of this some chaiwala also came to beat him. Even the police station was closed. The family also asked to stop the handcart. His stubbornness propelled him forward.

How is MBA Chaiwala different from others?

MBA Chai Wala is quite simple. Since service and customer satisfaction is the most important thing. Moreover, he was interacting with customers in Hindi from the beginning, hence making it easy and simple. He talks to them in the language according to the need of the customer. He also learned some Gujarati while staying in Gujarat. The language of Malwa is different anyway. To describe it simply, he makes everyone his own.

According to him, he has no contest and no competition. Whether there is any person, whether he is in the business of tea or coffee, he himself learns from him. He learned things from his brand, try to perfect it. Prafull stated: You just have to work according to the market in India. Rest I have no competition with anyone. There is no such word in my dictionary.

Views of Prafull on starting the brand on an international level

Yes. We want to start our work in India as well as abroad. Will start from Europe first. Went to London, Birmingham then went to Singapore. Inquiries are also coming from Istanbul, Dubai, Bahrain, USA, Canada, Japan. We want to go global. This is our aim. We have prepared a plan for tea according to different countries. First of all, we have milk tea. After this, we have added the matter of adopting the type of country. We will also focus on non-milk tea and fast food. We believe that we will be successful.

Prafull views on his journey:

Just wanted to do something different. Friends joked, just like it happens in India that if you work on the roadside, no one will give you respect. I have changed one thing in India. I am proud that no work is small or big. I am becoming famous for this thing. At one time I was ridiculed, but in the coming times, the tea sellers, pani puris, sabziwalas will not be ridiculed. Whatever work you do, do it with a bang, because the EMI of your house, the ration will not be given by the neighbor.

The journey was great. People are getting a lot of love. The people of India are giving a lot of love. As Krishna ji says, ‘do not worry about the result of doing work’. I am just following this principle. Things are going pretty well. People used to laugh, joke, today I am getting love, that is the only achievement.

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