Raj Shamani is an Indian entrepreneur, content creator, and speaker who is known for running the Shamani industries. He is the youngest Indian to represent India in the programme called Youth Representative Program for Young Leaders in the United Nations. He has also been a TedX Speaker four times.
Wiki/Biography
Raj Shamani was born on Tuesday, 29 July 1997 (age 26 years; as of 2023) in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Leo. He did his schooling at National Public School, Indore. He pursued a bachelor’s degree in business administration (BBA) from 2013 to 2016 at Prestige Institute of Management & Research, Indore. He also pursued a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from 2019 to 2021. When he was in school, he was not a bright student and was always referred to as a ‘useless kid.’ He was very afraid of speaking in public since childhood but he liked storytelling a lot. In an interview, he revealed that when he was young, he wanted to become a rapper and not a businessman because he liked the songs at that time. In the 1980s, Raj along with his family came to Indore in search of work. His family was totally dependent on his father’s income that he earned from selling coconut on the streets. In an interview, he said that it was a tough time for his family. After some time, his grandfather and his uncle joined a soap factory whereas his father used to sell the soap in the market. After working for some time in the factory, his father started making soaps at home. In the 1990s, his father’s business grew and he started a chemical trading business to supply products to soap manufacturers in the country. In 2008, their business was affected by the recession. In 2013, his family went through a tough time again after his father suffered a diabetic attack. After this, the responsibility fell on his shoulders and he decided to start his own business. To start the business, he borrowed Rs. 10,000 from his father and bought the raw materials.
Raj Shamani as a child
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 5″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Raj’s father’s name is Naresh Shamani, who is a businessman. He has a younger brother, Rahul Shamani.
Raj Shamani with his family
Wife
He is unmarried.
Career
Businessman
Raj started the business at the age of 16. He also helped his father with Shamani Industries. Within 5 years, their FMCG business grew to 20x revenue. In 2013, he launched his product, Jadugar Drop. After starting the business, he focused on only targeting local shop owners and not so much on profit margins. He also focused on taking a 12-15 per cent profit margin on the product. He used to produce the product and approach various families and grocery stores in his locality to demonstrate the product itself. His product was priced at Rs. 45 whereas Vim and Pril were Rs. 110.
Products made by Raj Shamani
Between March and July 2013, he produced around 250 bottles of dish soap and when he joined college, he sold 100 bottles to grocery stores and distributed another 100 among his friends. He used to sell his product in 500 ml bottles instead of giving free samples in sachets. In an interview, he said that the reason for selling the product in bottles and said,
When you give small sachets, chances are people would throw it away or not use it. But when you have something like a 500 ml bottle, even if you don’t use it immediately, you wouldn’t discard it or may even use it.”
In college, after selling his product to his friends, he asked his friends to get feedback from their mothers. His interaction with the mother’s made him make a customer base. He used to offer them a 25% discount to them on five litres of his product. In an interview, he said that this strategy worked very well for him because many houses started consuming his product. After some time, he started a multi-level marketing business and approached housewives who wanted to become financially independent. He used this scheme in 17 societies and got recognised by a local newspaper that published an article about how he was financially empowering women. His products were put on display on the shelves of many local shops there. In 2016, the company’s product portfolio grew to 16, which includes dishwashing liquid, soap, detergent powder, toilet cleaner, floor cleaner, and sanitiser. He did not get any internship after completing his studies. In an interview, he talked about how he gained knowledge about business and said,
We have the best place to gain knowledge around which is kirana stores. I spent the following weeks standing outside kiranas just observing.”
In 2016, he owned 2 small consumer products companies and merged his father’s company, Shamani Industries with his companies and expanded its 90 Lakh annual turnover business to a 9 crore turnover within 24 months.
Speaker
He was passionate about storytelling since childhood but when he was young, he was not very confident. After becoming a successful businessman, he started delivering speeches at different colleges. He used to record the speeches and post them on Instagram. He has delivered more than 200 speeches in more than 26 countries on business, branding, growth & mental health at organizations like Jaguar Land Rover, TCS, Reliance and Forbes.
Raj Shamani addressing the audience during his speech
Content Creator
He creates content and posts them on various media platforms including YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. His YouTube channel has more than a lakh subscribers. One of his videos ‘What’s the hard you want to choose’, crossed 30 million hits in 15 days after its release. He also runs a podcast ‘Figuring Out’ which aims at helping young entrepreneurs and startups. He has over one million followers on Instagram. He received eight different income streams from content creation. He is the founder of an ed-tech platform, Figuring Out Academy which teaches how to build and scale their startups.
Awards, Honours, Achievements
- Top 10 Young Entrepreneurs in India by Asian Age
- Top 5 Young Influencers in India by YourStory
- Top 10 Business Podcasts in India by Itunes
Facts/Trivia
- His hobbies include travelling and gyming.
- He works as an angel investor and growth consultant in multiple Sequoia-backed ventures like Classplus, Growth School, Zionverse, Wint Wealth, Deciml, Mainstreet, Avalon Scenes, and more.
- In an interview, he said that he did not receive any professional training or did not have a mentor while learning about business. He has learned about business distribution and product development through Google and YouTube. He has taken training under the BASF product development segment.
- According to him, the biggest challenge he faced while establishing the business was the entry of companies established in other sectors into the FMCG market. In an interview, he further talked about this and said,
Brands come in like seasons for a year or two and try to flood the market with offers because they have deep pockets. Most MNCs think FMCG is the way forward in the wake of the COVID-19-induced lockdown, as homecare products were included on the essential list. But I don’t think that’s the way ahead after for everyone.”
- There are more than 400 employees in his company and during the Covid-19 pandemic, there came a time he had to lay them off but he contacted his team and brainstormed ideas about how to earn profits. His company launched new products such as sanitisers and disinfectants, which were in high demand which led to a lot of profit and the workers did not lose their jobs.
- In 2022, he wrote the book ‘Build Don’t Talk.’
Book Written by Raj Shamani
- In April 2023, in a Twitter post, he wrote that he likes to work hard and that he could work more than 24 hours. After the Twitter post, he was criticized by some of his fans because they thought that he was promoting toxic work culture where there was no time for anything else.
- In 2023, he was featured on the cover of Forbes magazine.
Raj Shamani (left) on Forbes magazine
- In April 2023, he announced the launch of another technology-based platform ‘House of X’ which aims at helping content creators to create brands in seven days. He became the first content creator in India to launch such a technology-based platform.
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
