Success story of Vikas D Nahar
by Jaya Pathak
Vikas D Nahar is an Indian entrepreneur who has established himself in the food industry. He is the founder of Happilo International Private Limited which is known for offering high-quality dry fruits, nuts, seeds dates and many more.
His journey inspires a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs. During his struggling days, he was rejected almost about 20 times and couldn’t raise fund for his company. Now his company has a value of around ₹500 crore which is approximately $62,000,000.
Early life and education
Vikas was born in 1984 in Bangalore. He belongs to a business family having an agricultural business of growing coffee and pepper. After completion of computer application at the Bangalore university, he pursued MBA in marketing from Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development in Pune from 2008 to 2010. He worked as a Senior Import Manager at Jain Group Pvt Ltd for 3 years.
During this time, Vikas was selected in the induction team in which he hired new team members and trained them. He also has trading expertise on the MCX, NCDEX, NMCE, NSE and BSE. After the completion of his studies, he worked in his family business for some time. It was the time when he understood his own potential as an entrepreneur.
Vikas joined Satvikk Speciality Foods Pvt. Ltd. as the Managing Director in 2010. Under his leadership and guidance, the health focused food store expanded and open its first branch in Bangalore in December 2011. A variety of nutrient rich tasty products was offered and at the same time the standard of quality was not compromised. Vikas always focused on the improvement of its product and innovation in the process of making.
Though they have earned speciality in premium spices, chocolates, organic foods, sugar free foods, dry fruits, healthy drinks, cookies, juices and snacks, Vikas proposed the idea of introducing 40 types of dry fruits, 100 varieties of chocolates and 60 different types of spices fulfilling the demand of their customers. At the present time, Vikas’s brother, Virender Nahar is the Managing Director at the Satvikk Speciality Foods.
Establishment of Happilo
Before starting Happilo, Vikas failed multiple times. he was even a retailer and distributor. As he himself belongs to a business family and Marwari family as well, he was good at numbers. During campus placements, he was selected at Yes Bank but he left that job after 6 months and joined a new start-up named Satvikk Speciality Foods Pvt Ltd as the Managing Director.
The start-up company primarily focused on health reach products ranging from spices to dry fruits. For the expansion of companies reach, he worked for 5 years. During this time, he learned various aspects of running a business including procurement, marketing, finance, assortment, merchandising and many more.
In 2016, Happilo was launched as there was lack of any premium healthy snacking brand in the market. Vikas started his company with an investment of ₹10,000 only. Through CGTSME program, Happilo was provided a loan amount of around Rs 80 lakhs. This helped them to get seed capital without diluting their equity. Additionally, Nahar’s wife provided a sum of ₹20,00,000 from her savings.
The initial days were filled with various challenges. He was rejected 20 times before raising the first fund for his company. Vikas introduced trail mix as the first product of his brand Happilo which became a huge success in the market. Since then, Happilo has never looked back and is touching the new heights. In the present scenario, Vikas has expanded his business. His company ships 40-foot containers of their products.
Vikas D Nahar success story is definitely motivation for the young entrepreneur. He has a vision of establishing a brand of premium healthy products and at the same time keeping in view the idea of love and happiness. Happilo which was started with an investment of Rs 10,000 has now an annual revenue of over Rs 500 crores in just 7 years.
