We all are slaves of technology, we want a new gadget as soon as it is out in the market. We don't even think twice before replacing our phone just because it is a bit dated. While a lot of people are busy buying new things, there are a few people who believe in re-using what we already have.
Mukund BS is one such person. A 33-year old young entrepreneur, he truly believes that job satisfaction should be the priority and money eventually follows. An electronic engineer and an IIM graduate, Mukund was travelling with his uncle once when the idea of selling affordable computers struck his mind. That is when Renew It comes into picture.
Incorporated in 2009, Renew It started operations in 2010 with much research and hard work. "Initially I was the only one to do all the work including, marketing, managing finances, meeting clients, etc.," Mukund says.
Mukund (Left) and Raghav, co-founders of Renew It
Renew It collects scrap computers from corporates and sells them at affordable rates to the needy people after the required repair and maintenance.
Started with a team of two which included Mukund and his cousin Raghav Boggaram as co-founders, Renew It has now grown to a team of seven technicians and sales persons.
How it works?
The business model is very simple. We tie up with the corporates and take all their scrap computers. The team of technicians work on it to convert the scrap into a working machine. The process of buying the computers from these corporates is often a long procedure and can take as long as six months.
"The system is not organized, people often tend to sell the scrap at per kg rates which is not a good idea in case of computers," Mukund says.
The team makes sure that they provide computers to the needy at an affordable price.
After getting the scrap, the team of technicians start working on it and convert it into a working machine. The process takes around 2-3 weeks depending on the efforts required to fix the old machine.
The organization has sold 10,000 computers so far in a span of five years. "We were lucky that we had our family's support so it wasn't hard to arrange for finances," Mukund says.
The challenge
Mukund elaborates on this aspect:
The biggest challenge or should I say fear is that I don't know what will be the way forward, say, 5 years later as technology is completely evolving.
When he first started working on the idea of Renew IT, computers held an important place in the society as the smartphones weren't there. "Now when I see people doing most of their work on their phones I don't know how useful computers will be in future,"Mukund says.
Another challenge which Mukund faces is the unavailability of right type of scrap. Also, uninformed customers is yet another issue."Some people in not so developed areas don't know how a computer works. So sometimes they wouldn't handle it properly which reduces the life of a machine," he says.
The team has successfully sold over 10,000 computers so far.
Scaling Up
The company which started in Bangalore has now extended to Hyderabad and Mumbai. They also provide after-sale services to their clients for free for one year. Started with the initial capital of around Rs. 20 lakhs. They have grown to a capital of around Rs. 50-Rs.60 lakhs.
Mukund says:
"All we want to do is good work, money will eventually follow"
Lessons learnt
"One thing I have learnt in this journey is patience, you just sometimes have to wait for things to fall into the right places," says Mukund.
He also believes,
"You don't always have the answers to everything. You will make mistakes. Money is always the by product. You do the right thing, it will come."
The co-founders were also featured on a show India Ahead for their innovative initiative. Here is the video –
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