Doing business with Happiness

Fish being taken from the ship to the market

Fresh fish is not as fresh...

Recently I met a very inspiring personality. He is 68 years young. And still cheerful, innovative, smiling & enjoying life !!

He completely changed my way of looking at my life...

Here is the story :

It all started with a young boy who used to spend all the time of his school vacations in his father's shop. It was a whole sale dealership & this young boy used to go around with his father, seeing him interacting with clients, suppliers etc... He used to enjoy all this & it made his lifetime goal very clear. He decided to become a businessman.

Their house was near the seashore. He used to go to the seashore, watching the fishermen going to the sea & bringing lot of fish. He used to watch the auctions. While watching all this, he noticed that the table fish like pomfret, seer fish, bombay duck, mackerel, salmon fish etc. used to get good price. But he wondered, what happens to other fish? The other fish never used to fetch good price...

This thought lead him to study the markets more & more.. and one day he found there is something called 'Surimi'. Originated in Japan, Surimi literally means “ground paste” - a paste made from fish meat. This paste is used as a base for many recipes made in eastern part of the world.

And the boy found his direction ! He never looked back after that.

First he approached local banks, who were not willing to accept his proposal. Because they didn't know the potential in this business. He then approached the banker's bankers & explained the complete business plan & how it was viable. This paved way to his success & the loan got sanctioned !

The next task was to erect the factory. He went to S.Korea & met several retailers, users & also some industrialists there. After studying the complete scenario, he decided to buy a second hand surimi plant, with a condition that they would send their expert for a year to train his people completely. Not only this was agreed, but the company who sold the plant agreed to buy complete surimi produce that would be made in India !

Today, this Indian company is one of the largest producer of surimi in the world, with exports of frozen seafood to some of the developed countries such as South Korea, Japan, Malaysia,Taiwan and Australia.

Some of the great thoughts shared by this great man :

1) The greatest fun is in the journey - not in destination. So there is no reason for me to stop or retire !

2) This business is not just my profession or passion. It's my 'hobby' !! And you never get tired of your hobby...

3) In our company, there are no special treatments to anyone - all are equal. My cabin is therefore no different than my staff.

4) There is no special parking slot for seniors here. Whoever comes first, gets the parking of his/her preference !

5) Every member of the company has got complete freedom to do what is best for the company. There are no meetings - only discussions !

6) If there is a problem to be solved, the member cannot just come with the problem - she/he has to think of at least three possible solutions. These solutions are then discussed... It helps people focus on solutions rather than problems.

7) We encourage members to take decisions. Failures are accepted, but one has to share the learnings from the failures & avoid them in future.

Lastly, the fish products that we offer, are actually fresher than the fresh fish that you get, thanks to the modern techniques that we employ here, which preserves the goodness of the fish before it starts deteriorating ! To read in detail about how it happens, read http://www.gadre.co.in/blogs/5/why-frozen-is-better-than-fresh

Do you know who this great guy is? - It's Mr. Deepak Gadre - Founder, Gadre Marine Pvt. Ltd.

To know more about his company, Gadre Marine Pvt. Ltd. click here


A glimpse of Gadre Marine products



The beautiful sea shore of Ratnagiri

Trawlers leaving the port for fishing