No one comes to learn business from birth, nor are all available equal means for success, nor are all those working to earn crores. Many people work for a living, but there are some people who do their work with such vigor that the whole work starts working in their favor.
And one such inspiring personality Patricia Narayan. This woman was killed daily by her alcoholic and drug-addicted husband. This woman did not even have any extraordinary skills, yet she fed up and left her husband and undertook to work hard to improve the future of her children and improve her life. Her life journey started with just 50 paise a day, today she is earning two lakh rupees a day.
Patricia was from a Christian family, her parents worked very low salary. She fell in love with a Hindu Brahmin boy and got married against the whole world. This marriage changed her entire life. Her husband was an alcoholic and drug addict and she used to torture Patricia daily. Fed up with all this, she came to her parents’ house with her two children. A simple girl who had no understanding of the world, suddenly one day found the responsibility of the whole house on her shoulders. Till now she had only one skill to cook. She started making pickles, jams and squash at home and selling in nearby houses. It was a good start.
A friend of her father used to run a school for the disabled and he gave Patricia a handcart and in return, he conditioned to hire two disabled children. Patricia set up her food stall on Marina Beach. On the first day, only one cup of coffee was sold and 50 paise was earned. Patricia became very frustrated when her mother asked her to work harder. On the second day, she earned Rs 600. This encouraged her. Her jam ran from three o’clock in the afternoon to eleven o’clock and was open for a morning walk from five o’clock to nine o’clock. She used to have difficulty in jamming till late at night, but she wanted to prove herself. And that was the reason she never told anyone about her problem.
One morning Patricia’s client was chairman of the Slum Clearance Board. She invited Patricia to run the slum board canteen. She got ready and started working in both places. From five o’clock in the morning to nine in the handcart, then in the canteen from nine o’clock and then from three o’clock to eleven o’clock in the handcart continued to work. Now her earnings have gone up to Rs 20,000 per month. Soon she also got a contract of the Bank of Madurai canteen where she cooks for 300 people every day. One day her husband came and quarrelled with her a lot, she became very disappointed and went to the National Port Management School. There, he got an opportunity to meet the Administrative Officer and suddenly he got a contract there. This proved to be the turning point of her life. There she had to cook 700 children and for this, she got 80,000 rupees a week. It was from here that she started training people to increase her business.
Patricia was about to start her first restaurant when her daughter and son-in-law died in a car accident. This accident broke them and they started retreating from that venture. From here her son Praveen Kumar took over the responsibility and started the first restaurant named “Sandeepa” in the memory of her sister.
In 2010, Patricia was honoured with the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the FICCI Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce. She tells the youth about three things, to stick to what you know, believe in yourself and never decrease the quality of work.
Patricia today has 200 employees, starting with two employees. She has her own restaurant chain. Now her way of living her whole life has changed. A woman who started a day with just 50 paise, today she earns two lakh rupees a day. What else can be a better example of success?
