Gujarat: When Chandu Bhai Virani was only 15 years old, his father had to sell their farm due to drought. There was no means of earning, so his father gave twenty thousand rupees he had received from selling the land, to him and two of his brothers and asked them to start a new business. 

At that time, he and his brothers were completely hopeless and clueless as they started looking for different means of earning. The three brothers decided to leave their hometown, Jamnagar, behind and moved to Rajkot in search of work. 

Working in the canteen of a cinema 

Following his father’s advice, Chandu Bhai along with his brothers started a farm supply business, but this venture failed miserably due to the lack of knowledge regarding business. Now, getting a job became extremely important. 

In 1964, in search of work, Chandu Bhai went to the Astron Cinema and found a job as a worker in the canteen; he was earning Rs. 90 per month as his salary. His job was not limited to the walls of canteen, but he was required to repair the broken seats in the hall, clean the seats, paste the movie posters around the area and more. 

Despite working hard, he was unable to earn enough to pay the rent of his house. But as if his prayers were heard by the almighty, a manager at the cinema noticed Chandu Bhai’s hard work and hired him on a contract with a salary of Rs 1000 per month. 

Emerging ideas of business

Chandu Bhai was a good observer. After working in the cinema for a while, he realized that people were fond of consuming wafers and products like that. Now that he had gained some experience as a working man, he decided to try his hands at the wafer making industry. 

He was able to save up Rs 10,000 from his decent salary; he rented an open place, bought the raw materials and started manufacturing wafers. And take a guess, what was the first place that he sold his packets of chips at! He started selling his products outside the cinema and received an extremely good and motivating response from his buyers. 

Just then, Chandu Bhai realized that he had found his purpose and now there was no stopping. 

Soon, Chandu Bhai officially established his wafer manufacturing company under the name ‘Balaji Potato Wafers’ in 1989 and earned a huge reputation for being the only company to have done that. He had taken a loan of Rs 50 lakh, but he believed in himself and his company that he would return that amount fully with interest. 

Initially, he would himself pack loads of wafer packets to deliver on his bicycle. After months of persistent hard work, finally the day came, when he could hire people to do the job for him. Within two years of establishing, Chandu Bhai was selling his products all across the country and his business acquired the name ‘Balaji Wafers Private Limited’.

Working as a leader

Few years later, with the rising demand for fried chips, Balaji Wafer started manufacturing namkeen. It’s a savoury snack that is relished by many people. 

Chandu Bhai never sighs at the fact that at some point of his life, he had no means of income or a goal in his life. He believes that his persistence helped him become successful in his business. In 2011, his company’s turnover was Rs 4,000 crore. The company boasts about providing equal opportunities to everyone and 50 per cent of the employees are women in the company.