Mustafa Mala was born into a legacy business family in Panchgani, where he had lived and schooled till his eighth standard before moving to Surat to pursue an Arabic education. After studying there for the remainder of his school life, he was struck by the need to diversify his interests and skills, and returned to Maharashtra to approach life and education anew.
Like many other young college students, barely out of their teens, Mustafa was unsure about the path forward, despite being confident about his desires to learn and experience new things. He was rescued from this fallow period by his brother, who was already a partner at the Enterprise India Fellowship, and was working on a project to popularise healthy snacks, with a specific focus on goods made out of rajgira seeds.
Mustafa was tasked with helping him sell the product to prospective customers and clients, which opened up a professional avenue for him. He came from the family who owned ‘Mala Food Products’ Pvt. Ltd. and harboured a genuine desire to enter the industry. This not only allowed him a glimpse into how the industry worked but also facilitated his skill development in sales. Mustafa vividly remembers coming up with different, unique ways to pitch his products, and propose them as a viable year round snacking option rather than remaining the niche ingredient for Diwali laddoos.
This project had a two-fold intent, one being a simple business expansion plan, and the other being an attempt to create a healthier snack variant to impact overall community health. This layered approach to entrepreneurship, and the hands on practicality that came with implementing it, convinced Mustafa to join Enterprise India Fellowship for himself.
Mustafa’s introspection about his utility in the family structure had been haunting him for quite a while. As he grew up observing the continuous hard work that was put into the maintenance and expansion of the family business, he was moved with the intent to assist in the process, but was unable to formalise how to go about doing so. Thus although he had started working in the business, he was unsure if his efforts were having an impact.
Thus, for him Joining Enterprise meant finding a direction and motivation to his work. In his first ‘Conflexion’ blog he reminisces about an incident when he had been asked by his father to lend a hand in placing bottles on the conveyor belt. The suggestion had shocked him, as the idea of working alongside the ‘workers’ had never appeared to him as a feasible, or worthwhile job. His association with his brother’s healthy snacks project helped change his approach towards different kinds of jobs, and through Enterprise he was able to mould himself into a more efficient team player.
When he had joined Enterprise, he had wanted the institute to facilitate a growth in him that would help him move beyond his comfort zone. He knew that it would help him get the wide ranging exposure he was looking and develop a diverse variety of transferable soft skills. And through the eight different projects he participated in, including a #Karo initiative, he was able to do just that.
On the eve of his graduation, reflecting upon his journey through the Fellowship, Mustafa is able to outline a trajectory of building confidence and self reliance. Thinking back to the ‘Super Greens Project’, he recollects how the details of the project had not been clearly defined for the partners, and as a participant he had to formulate the methodology and the execution process independent of the client. This proved to be formative for Mustafa as he learnt to translate obscure demands into improvisational work, and approach them from a solution oriented perspective.
Alongside the development of these practical skills, Mustafa was also surprised by his reflective moments. Fostered through the regular ‘Conflexion’ posts, he, like many other fellows, have discovered a knack for writing in general and journaling in particular. The way that process helps summarise internal dilemmas, and manifest solutions, makes it an uniquely important avenue of mental de-cluttering. This has allowed him to be more curious of the external world, and approach new work with an open mind, instead of an anxious demeanour, which is perhaps the most comprehensive shift he has seen in himself.
A culmination of all his developments can be studied through the Karo project he led with fellow partner Dariya Budhani. Both of them came from legacy business families in the FMCG industry and struggled with figuring out a way to contribute meaningfully to those institutes. It was through a conversation about this shared experience that they planted the seed of an idea that finally blossomed in the end.
In an effort to interact directly with the consumers and learn their opinions about their products, the two of them designed an online game where the participants would be provided with mystery boxes of Budhani Brothers’ snacks, and Mala Foods’ syrups and sauces. The idea was that not only would this promote the products and drive engagement, but also facilitate new ideas in terms of recipes and products to be launched.
The project took the Mustafa and Dariya through the entire gamut of their acquired skills. From streamlining the plan of action, to pitching it to their mentors, they had to lead a team of junior partners into executing it successfully. For both Mustafa and Dariya, it became a testament to their own abilities, and benchmark for their accomplishments.
Having currently finished his BBA degree, Mustafa is an active participant in Mala Foods Pvt. Ltd., with dreams of expanding it beyond it current peripheries. His ability to be a team player has helped him be more involved with his surroundings and co workers, whereas his documentation skills help him maintain a clarity of vision and intent. But the trait he is most proud of for fostering is a genuine curiosity in new, potentially difficult things, and a stubbornness to see every challenge through its end.
Hometown: Silvassa, Diu & Daman
College: SSR College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Silvassa
Subject: Bachelor of Business Administration – Human Resources
Interests/Cares About: helping businesses solve problems
Fellowship Span: Apr 2020- Aug 2021
Fellowship Activities Sneak Peak:
-Worked on 5+ projects including Enterprise projects like #start & #karo, and Chandrayaan 0.0 (with the Client – Area Sabha Association of Pune)
-Wrote 2 blogs, hosted a Green Room community story-sharing evening, 3 #karo workshops, co-designed and co-hosted a session for peers on ‘Decluttering the mind’
-Co-led a team of 7 new Enterprise Partners to organize #karo, and help them kickstart their fellowship experience by activating the “doing” mindset
Plan after Graduation:
– Working with the MD of KlugAvlon, the first Indian company to indigenously develop safety systems for cranes all the way back in the year 2000
For Mustafa, his journey, within and beyond Enterprise India Fellowship, can be summed up by the following quote he had included in his first blog post:
‘The truth is, every one of us is put in this world to contribute and make a difference to the world in our own unique way. It need not be anything out of the world. It just needs to be something we do with the intention of doing good.‘
He continues on his journey to make a difference, now armed with the knowledge of his significant capability.
Interviewer: Akash Bhalerao
Author: Jagruti Jethwani
Video Editor: Rahul Devkar
Story Editors: Aditya Jhunjhunwala, Akash Bhalerao, Ankita Parashar, Shakko, Yusuf Hakim
Webpage Designer: Dnyanesh Chandewar
Through this project, Shiv learned how to fundraise, create leads and close sales as well as create a unique user experience for the participants. Shiv contributed to the project with action-orientedness, discipline and punctuality. Ankita Parashar, Business Partner and Marketing Lead at Enterprise recalls, “When we interviewed Shiv for the Fellowship, he had a white board in his background and he carefully wrote notes from our conversation. We knew then, this guy won’t have to be hand held for anything, rather he will be leading!” And through this project, his peers and mentors were amazed to see his time management and “doer-ship” in action.
From experiencing day to day operations of his family business, he had learned that it was quite different from the theories learned in college which made him realise that applied knowledge is power.
Before joining the fellowship Shiv had shared, “The primary reason I want to join the Enterprise India Fellowship is to gain practical knowledge by working on projects which will also help me build my career, skills, relationships, and self growth.”
And through the fellowship, that’s what he ended up doing.
Throughout his fellowship journey, he worked on over five projects including in-house projects like #karo & #start and a client project called Chandrayaan0.0 with the Area Sabha Association of Pune. .
Shiv considers #karo as the most meaningful part of his fellowship journey. Shiv says, “I won’t be able to explain how much it has impacted me. That word #karo is going to be stuck in my head, heart and life forever.”
In September 2020, all the Partners came together to co-create #karo 3.0 – a seven weekend-long online festival to celebrate the “art of doing”. The idea was to help people understand that just watching, learning, and hearing something is not enough. We need to DO it, #karo it!
Shiv worked in the sales and outreach team and also hosted one of the workshops . Public speaking did not come naturally for him, so he was stepping out of his comfort zone and asked for help when he needed it. On the day of the workshop, he gracefully hosted the 150 participants, and courageously stepped out of his comfort zone.
Following that, Shiv, along with Enterprise Partners Apeksha Rathod and Jagruti Jethwani, took up every opportunity to learn and do, stuck with the project through a couple iterations and became a part of the #karo leadership team. Recently they co-led a team of 7 new Enterprise Partners to organize #karo workshops, and helped them kickstart their respective fellowship journeys by activating the “doing” mindset.
Hometown: Silvassa, Diu & Daman
College: SSR College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Silvassa
Subject: Bachelor of Business Administration – Human Resources
Interests/Cares About: helping businesses solve problems
Fellowship Span: Apr 2020- Aug 2021
Fellowship Activities Sneak Peak:
-Worked on 5+ projects including Enterprise projects like #start & #karo, and Chandrayaan 0.0 (with the Client – Area Sabha Association of Pune)
-Wrote 2 blogs, hosted a Green Room community story-sharing evening, 3 #karo workshops, co-designed and co-hosted a session for peers on ‘Decluttering the mind’
-Co-led a team of 7 new Enterprise Partners to organize #karo, and help them kickstart their fellowship experience by activating the “doing” mindset
Plan after Graduation:
– Working with the MD of KlugAvlon, the first Indian company to indigenously develop safety systems for cranes all the way back in the year 2000