If you were born in the eighties or nineties, you must have seen the first simple advertisement of Nirma washing powder on Doordarshan, in which a little girl was seen wearing a white frock.
The man behind this small advertisement had years of hard work. Whose name was Karsan Bhai Patel, Karsan Bhai Patel belongs to a farming family in North Gujarat, Karsan Bhai did his graduation in chemistry. In the eyes of all his colleagues, getting a job as a lab technician in a government department was a good idea. Karsan Bhai also did the same but he never let his goal get smaller or smaller. First, he got a job as a lab technician in cotton mills and then in the mining department.
The success story of Karsanbhai Patel, founder, and owner of Nirma
Founder of Nirma, Karsanbhai Patel was not happy with his job and wanted to start a business of his own. Meanwhile, one day a laundry detergent powder should be made in their mind which is cheaper and of higher quality than other detergent powders and soaps available in the market. For this, he started experiments in his lab, and finally, his hard work paid off he prepared a yellow-colored powder that was no less than soap in washing and which could be sold at a low price. Now the problem was to produce and sell it because they did not have enough money to set up a factory, buy a machine or hire other people. For this, he decided to do everything himself. After this, after returning from the job every evening, he started making detergent powder himself behind his house and along with doing the job, started selling 10-15 packets daily on a bicycle.
Slowly his hard work paid off and finally in 1969 when the demand increased, he quit his job and started a small factory near Ahmedabad with few workers and machines. He started selling his powder in the market under the name Nirma Detergent Powder.
The story of Karsanbhai Patel, founder of Nirma, to brand it and expand it. Karsan Bhai Patel, the founder of Nirma, observed that his product was competing with the big giants in the market and well-known companies like Hindustan Uniliver, which were dominant in the sector at that time. To deal with such a situation, he resorted to advertising promotions on radio and television, due to which his powder has become a household name in the country and his product has become the choice of people of all incomes, big and small.
Eventually, the Nirma brand got established in the entire country including Gujarat and Maharashtra in a very short period. Now, keeping in mind the higher income group, Karsanbhai Patel introduced some expensive products in the market to expand the company, which were not so successful. The company also started manufacturing Nirma Bath, Nirma Beauty Soap, Nirma Shampoo, Nirma To Paste, Super Nirma Detergent, etc. But none of the products in the market was successful as expected. After this, the name “Shuddh” started by the company was very successful. Karsanbhai Patel first established a joint venture in Bangladesh to make his company’s identity in the international market. He expanded his company in China, Africa, and Asian countries as well.
Today Nirma is one of the few brands in the country that is recognized as a pan-Indian brand. Today it has become the Nirma Group of Companies, with more than 8000 employees, more than 400 distributors, and more than 2 lakh dealers.
Today it has a market share of around 20% in soaps and 35% in detergent powders. All this was possible because of Karsanbhai Patel’s vision, thinking, hard work, and dedication.
Other important things related to the life of Nirma founder Karsanbhai Patel:
• Karsan Bhai named his brand “Nirma” after his daughter Nirupama.
• Karsanbhai Patel, making his significant contribution to the field of education, has built many colleges in Gujarat which all come under Nirma Education and Research Foundation.
• Karsanbhai Patel has been honored with various awards for his contribution to the country’s economy and industry.
• Karsanbhai Patel’s name also appeared in Forbes magazine in the year 2016, according to which his net worth was $ 76 billion and he is ranked 1121 among the world’s richest people and 50th in the list of India’s richest people.
Friends, the success of Karsanbhai Patel has proved that if you make a goal and move forward with hard work and determination, then no one can stop you from moving forward.
We hope you enjoyed reading this article on the success story of Nirma founder Karsanbhai Patel. Thanks for reading.