While most of the retired army personnel either join a private security agency or start one, this retired army officer is running a successful entrepreneurship the Army way. With the motto that the Indian Army is not just a service but a way of life, 61-year-old Major Sanjay Shinde (Retd), who prematurely retired from the Indian Army, has come out as a role model of entrepreneurs by using his army training to manufacture fast moving consumer goods from Kolhapur.
Major Shinde joined the National Defence Academy (NDA) after passing out from Sainik School in Satara and was awarded the coveted UP Cup for being adjudged as the ‘Best in Army Specialised Training’ of his batch in 1982. After being commissioned in the Army in 1983, his skills and talent made him the recipient of ‘Best Young Officer’, ‘Best on Weapon’s Course’, ‘Best Directing Staff’ and more. He was also selected as a part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka during Operation Pawan in 1987-88 and received two medals for his outstanding war performance.
However, after serving the country for 12 years, Major Shinde decided to prematurely retire from the force due to financial problems and start his entrepreneurship journey. He started a candle-making unit in Kolhapur and started earning from his small-scale industry. He wished to collaborate with the canteen store department of the Army but on being denied the opportunity due to easy availability of candles and bank guarantee, he came up with a unique spring to hide wrinkles on the shoes.
“In the Army, a lot of importance is given to the shoes and the shoes easily get wrinkled due to excessive activity. We used to stuff socks and newspapers in the shoes to hide those wrinkles therefore this spring was an instant hit. Even the officers realised that it was an important material for the jawans as well as for themselves and the board of advisors accepted my product,” Major Shinde told the Free Press Journal.
This was just the start for the army man’s entrepreneurship journey as he increased the manufactured items to incense sticks, phenyl, hand-wash, sanitiser, brooms and more, but what helped his journey was the Army training that he applied in the business as well. Punctuality, mentality and communication from his Army days proved to be the game changer in boosting the business.
Like a monthly darbar that is organised in the army regiments that help increase the bonding between the jawans and the officer, Major Shinde also calls a darbar every month to know about the issues faced by his employees. “Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw had organised a darbar even with the Pakistani prisoners to know about the issues they faced in the prison, whereas these people are my family. I am only following the methods that I learnt in the army as these can not be taught in any management courses,” he said.
