Originally reported and written in July 2022, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

In the Pali district, where the borders of Rajasthan and Udaipur intersect, there is a small village called Bera. It is distinguished by two things — the trees are never bare and the tribal communities are always busy.

While growing up, Rajesh Oza, a native of this village would often observe how these communities would gather together every morning, pick the avlas, sitaphals (custard apples) and more from the fruit-laden trees and carry the heavy tokris to the markets. But he would notice how they were always under pressure to sell their produce in a short period before it could get spoilt.

In time, the young boy moved to Mumbai where he completed his education until class 12. He then ventured into the real world looking for a job, but not having a degree to fall back on made things tough.

“It was a bad spell,” he says, adding that in 2016, he decided he’d had enough of city life and moved back to his home village in an attempt to start anew.

As he settled into village life once again, he realised that while much had changed in terms of the standard of living, there was one thing that remained the same — the tribals were forced to sell their fruits at a loss.

A desire to give back to his community

“Kam daam mein bikna unki majboori thi (They were forced to sell at a low rate),” he says, adding that this fuelled his idea to start a venture.

He adds, “I wanted to build a brand that could help these tribal communities earn more without the pressure to sell their produce in a short time.”

This idea would one day be the precursor for ‘Jovaki’, his agro-food company. But at the time, Rajesh did not act on it, since it seemed too big a challenge.

However, things took a turn........

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