It isn't uncommon to see people equating success to a delta increase in the standard of living of an individual, hence a common narrative involving least risk and maximum success involves a traditional path. We all face problems and see loopholes in how the world operates but the popular narrative for the path to success majorly involves escaping the problems and drifting ourselves to a socio-economic situation where these problems are not visible.
But is this really the success for which we toiled so hard?
For 2 IIT Delhi graduates, the answer was certainly NO!
Neetu Yadav and Kirti Jangra are determined to uplift the lives of millions of cattle farmers in India. Through their startup Animall which digitalizes cattle sales. This not only increases the choice avai
lable to cattle farmers but also structures this highly informal cattle trading sector.
Ms. Yadav was brought up in a family of cattle farmers in Nawalpura, Rajasthan. Her parents supported her education and coaching. This combined with Ms. Yadav's hard work made her the first graduate of her family and village. On the other hand, Hisar’s Ms. Jangra hailed from a middle-class family with her father in a government job. She preferred her dream to transform this highly unorganized cattle trading sector over the great opportunity to complete MBA from a renowned US University.
Our team interviewed Ms Neetu Yadav, co founder of Animall to gather some insights about the story of this remarkable startup.
Birth of the Idea
Observing problems is arguably the most ordinary experience, but observing a problem with a mindset determined to transform it into an opportunity certainly requires extraordinary courage. The story of two entrepreneurs with a quirky and futuristic idea targeting millions of underprivileged rural cattle farmers is indeed unique.
“The idea of Animall was conceived in an internal hackathon in Pratilipi (pratilipi.com). We talked to thousands of dairy farmers and found the problem to be super interesting and later started Animall as a weekend project. When we got super encouraging feedback from users and got strong user traction, we started Animall full-time in Nov 2019.”
In spite of the fact that India reportedly has the biggest cattle population in the world, the cattle market in India is not only highly fragmented & unorganized, but it’s also among one of the least productive globally. For a startup aiming at a novel transformation in the lives of the less aware and traditional population of cattle farmers, the social acceptability of their proposed solution was a key challenge. Despite that ever since its inception in November 2019 Animall has achieved phenomenal milestones.
“Now, Animall is India's largest cattle trading platform. In terms of milestones - we have onboarded 8Mn+ dairy farmers on the platform. Have helped them sell more than 600,000 cattle worth more than Rs 3000 Crore.”
It indeed makes us curious exactly what inspired Ms. Neetu to pursue this futuristic idea so passionately and bring tangible results so early.
“The intersection of these 2 pointers made this problem very interesting for me - first, Personal connection with the user - I have been a dairy farmer in the early years of my life. My entire family and relatives are still in the dairy farming business. second, Completely unorganized and huge market (more than $ 100 Billion)”
Major Challenges
Realizing this idea was a difficult task. When we asked Ms. Yadav about major challenges in her journey till now her response gave us insights about a very important aspect determining a startup’s success: its culture.
“Building the right team - 1.) We have an entrepreneurial culture in the company that means high ownership and high accountability. 2.) We are heavily user-centric. Hiring people at the intersection of entrepreneurial mindset and passion for building for Bharat has been one of the challenges.”
Her response gives a clear idea about importance "culture" in setting the pace of any startup. It is impossible to transform an idea to reality without a team, but identifying the right people who can match the same level of enthusiasm and commitment as the founder themselves is pivotal in determining the speed of success.
The Team steering "The digital white revolution"
Undoubtedly Animall has a team of smart and passionate people . The amount of public traction the startup has received in a comparatively short time span is result of immense toil of a highly motivated team.
“we are 40 people strong people team who are superb problem solvers and are always up for taking a challenging assignment.”
Though Animall’s popularity has substantially increased and the idea has gained traction from some of the notable investors, still Ms. Yadav believes it's just a beginning.
“ Animall aims to make dairy farming meaningfully profitable by being a one-stop shop for dairy farmers. I think the next set of big companies is going to come from Building for Bharat movement Animall is very fortunate to be at the forefront of it.”
Founder's advice for budding entrepreneurs
“Building a company is a time taking process and has its ups and downs, so pick a problem that you are super passionate about. An interesting way to think about this can be - pick a problem that is so interesting to you that you would be willing to solve it for free.”
The ingredient ensuring your resilience and patience is your belief in your idea and yourself. Animall's success reiterates the fact that there is ample room in this world for people who choose to face the pressing issues of society and try to solve them.
