Biplab Ketan Paul, who developed a water harvesting system that has benefited farmers around the country, received The Weekend Leader – VIT Person of the Year (2016) Award from  India’s ‘moon man’ Dr Mylswamy Annadurai, director, ISRO, Bengaluru

In 1994, a 25-year-old young man invested Rs 5,000 in a flower shop in Delhi along with a friend who put in Rs 2.5 lakh and later withdrew. Today, the business has grown into a Rs 650 crore turnover flower retail chain   

Two friends started a fruit juice shop in a 26 sq ft rented space in 2014 and have now grown into a six-outlet chain. Operating on a no-frills model and even selling on carts, they are inching toward a one crore turnover mark, says G Singh

When a man who created a business empire that is today valued at Rs 3,600 crore from a small investment of Rs 1 lakh talks about success strategies, you would want to listen. Usha Prasad did, and took away 10 Success Mantras from his speech

He dropped out of college to start a business and did not give up after his profitable trade went bust. The founder of a Rs 15 crore turnover coffee chain had suffered losses and underwent humiliations before achieving success, says Usha Prasad

K R Raja landed in Coimbatore with just Rs 25 in his pocket as a 16-year-old and had even slept on the pavement. Today, he owns three biryani outlets and a lodge in the heart of the city that is worth more than Rs 10 crore, says P C Vinoj Kumar

At an age when people start planning for their retirement, three 40-plus men from Kolkata decided to set up a company with their PF and gratuity money. Sixteen years later, two of the co-founders look back and tell their story to G Singh  

Somma Banerjee gives a blow-by-blow account of how V P Lobo, the son of a daily wager, who came to Mumbai from a village near Mangaluru with just Rs 50, built a business that has achieved a cumulative turnover of Rs 75 crore in six years

A first generation entrepreneur, Yuvraj Aman Singh, who entered the refurbished mobile phone market eight years ago selling his products outside a Sony Ericsson outlet in Delhi, has now reached a turnover of Rs 150 crore, says Narendra Kaushik  

Two friends started a coffee shop with an investment of Rs 12 lakh in the small town of Vadodara in 2008. They are now one of the fastest growing coffee chains in the country with an annual turnover of Rs 8.3 crore, says Kavita Kanan Chandra 

Jaideep Sajdeh buys discarded hotel bed sheets from the US and gives them a new lease at his factory in India, where they are made into colourful shopping bags. He made a whopping Rs 4 crore from the business last year, says P C Vinoj Kumar

As a 16-year-old Bollapally Srikanth left his hometown in Telangana and came to work in a flower farm in Bengaluru for a monthly salary of Rs 1,000. He is a leading floriculturist today with an annual turnover of Rs 70 crore, says Usha Prasad

An ice cream brand in Kolkata hit rock bottom and the owner’s family ran into a personal debt of Rs 30 lakh. But the family’s elder son, then just 22, rebuilt the business with tasty fruit ice-creams made from natural ingredients, says G Singh

The founder of a Rs 350 crore turnover company, the third largest pen maker in the country, Surajmal Jalan, arrived in Kolkata from his village in Rajasthan virtually penniless, riding on a third-tier general class railway coach, says G Singh

A young chartered accountant, Robin Jha, started a chai shop in Delhi 3 years ago with his hard-earned savings and some contributions from his friends. Today, his 21-outlet chain does Rs 50 lakh business every month, says Narendra Kaushik