Class 12 Dropout Helps Tribals Triple Their Income Through Jamuns, Earns Crores

Rajesh Oza's jamun processing startup Tribalveda has helped tribal women of his village Bera earn three times more.

October 11, 2023

Rajesh Oza faced “a bad spell” in 2016 when he tried looking for jobs in Mumbai. An education only until Class 12 put a dampener on the opportunities. When Rajesh moved back to his village Bera, he thought everything was lost. But in fact, it was the start of a lucrative business he would build that would go on to empower 1,800 tribal women.

Rajesh’s venture ‘Tribalveda’ started in October 2021 and was born out of his intention to help the farmers in his village who faced the pressure of having to sell their produce in the few hours after harvest to prevent spoilage. Getting farmers to agree to join hands with him wasn’t the easiest of tasks. But Rajesh says the results spoke for themselves.

“On their behalf, I took their produce, negotiated good prices in the markets and gave them the profits. The community began to believe I could do what I said,” he says. Rajesh’s brand works with the farmers of Bera, helping them to identify, harvest, collect, store, grade, sort, wash, process and package the products that are then sold at market prices.

The brand has a revenue of Rs 2 crores and Rajesh sees it only expanding in the coming years. But before he tasted success, here’s what his journey was like:

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