Sunil Kumar is the founder of reThela, a social venture that aims to build an organized retail market infrastructure for fragmented and unorganized street vendors. They provide cost-competitive mechanisms for businesses to market and sell their products through street vendors with customized carts, technology, and operational support. reThela currently works with brand partners, governments, and street vendor associations. Sunil has over 16 years of experience in sales and marketing for industries like fast-moving consumer goods, retail, and real estate, and technology. He also played a key role in launching India’s first affordable housing project in Mumbai. 

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Sunil worked with Uniliever selling chocolates on the streets of Mumbai. He also worked with Future Group where he experienced, for the first time, the inner workings of the retailing industry. While at Future Group, Sunil began to wonder if it was possible to make “organized” retailing more accessible to “unorganized” retailers. From 2016 onwards he worked at a friend’s company as President and looked after infrastructure development work in petrochemical projects. During this time he began studying various aspects of retailing, and marketing. Before founding reThela, Sunil realized the vastness of the problem the fragmented street vendor industry faced, but he says he was surprised by the complexities of street vending.

Aditi Das sat down with Sunil to learn more about how he is helping street vendors grow their businesses.

Q. What Inspired you to start your business?

I have been a big fan of retailing and studying how Indian retailing has developed over the years. I specialized in retailing as a subject in my Post Graduate too. It was natural for me to see the problems of low-income people, especially street vendors. I found it ironic to see that a loss-making Flipkart is more valued financially than a street vendor whose survival is dependent on profitability. I was inspired by the vastness and clear opportunity this problem presented. A simple and effective support system to help street vendors get design, technology, training, and operation services can bring a whole lot of change to the entire retailing industry. 

Q. Have you faced any unique challenges being an entrepreneur? Can you speak about some of these challenges? And how did you deal (or are dealing) with them?

Being an entrepreneur is synonymous with facing challenges which you never thought you would face. There are challenges at every step but if I have to point to one, the challenge of getting the message across to street vendors and bringing them onboard is going to top the list. They have a lot of concerns and are skeptical towards every step that involves finance and paperwork. The best you can do is talk to them. Let them ask you whatever little concerns they might have. They should feel that they can approach us anytime they want to. This led to unique approaches and development of a completely new business model which I never thought existed. Today, we have not just validated our model but are proud to see that our street vendors bring more street vendors to our program.

Q. Why did you decide to formulate a business model with such a strong emphasis on social impact? 

It’s ironic how we forget the most prominent retail point of our lives. Majority of us would have had breakfast, which had ingredients bought from a push or hand cart, but we take pride in shopping from a mall or online shopping. The sheer lack of support and willful ignorance by various government and non-government agencies is a threat to survival for millions of street vendors. Street vending is the only option for a lot of low-income people who could not get any low end job or are not so well educated. A simple understanding of which item shall sell on which street is a valuable data which needs to be captured and formulated to give benefits to consumers as well as street vendors. I believe, the next retail revolution shall be led by the street vendors in India and reThela shall play a significant role in it.

Q. What is the core / large scale problem you’re looking to solve? 

According to the Government of India there are approximately 50 million street vendors in India. We estimate that number to be nearly 100 to 150 million. The active street vendor does ₹1500 to ₹2000 daily business and saves ₹300 - ₹500 per day for his or her home. Food street vendors do better than fruit and vegetable street vendors. There are daily transactions which have not been provided enough support to thrive. This is a humongous opportunity with equally complex challenges. reThela is solving this problem by taking a simple approach of “building one household at a time.” We have understood the long way ahead but need to be focused on making sure we engage the right set of people with support of our NGO or social partners in various cities across India. There are people out there who are ready to put in hard work, all they need is an opportunity and a bit of support. We at reThela provide them both. We are trying to give employment to street vendors with a fixed and variable income. The big picture here is to enable the street vendors to become a part of the mainstream organized economy and provide employment to millions out there who seek it.

Q. What role do you think your business plays in the lives of those you employ or impact? 

Developing countries have a significant portion of their population dependent on street vending for their daily needs. We are working towards providing these vendors with a career. We empower them by ensuring that their hard work would not only lead to growth in their monetary compensation but would also result in better career prospects with us. We are keen towards providing a sense of security to the labor class and bring them into the mainstream economy so that they could also contribute towards nation building in a larger way.

Q. What is your vision for your company? What is your vision for India or the world at large? 

We are here to make street vending a dignified career for low-income people to earn their livelihood as well as provide long term income support. We are connecting design, technology, and human capital like no one has ever done. We shall be directly providing income support to millions of low-income people by helping them through resources, training, and finance. We are trying to do our part in making India’s huge workforce experience its potential to the fullest.

Q. What continues to motivate you to do this everyday?

I think most of us keep our priorities simple. I keep myself and society near me as less important than what my country needs. You may call it patriotism, but I realized this during my middle age and how we need to conduct ourselves. We owe our education, experience and financial gain to our country and a larger part of it to humanity. It does not matter how qualified or financially strong you are, we need to act urgently by simply seeing the divide between rich and poor in the country. I always remind myself how my everyday activities are important for a larger purpose. 

Q. What has been your biggest personal take-away in your entrepreneurial journey so far?

If you are finding something smooth today, consider that as a trap! There is never really a day when you don’t learn something, especially when your everything is at stake. It’s difficult to keep nerves under control during every decision. It's unbelievably tougher than what it may look like. I must add that I still say this when the world sees me as a very “patient” guy!

Q. What are some of the key insights you’ve gained after working in this sector? Were there any ‘Aha!’ or ‘Oh no!’ moments?

My attempt to work with government agencies has been consistently “oh no!” moments. A lot of smart people suggested that I remain away from them and my inner being wanted to revolt. Alas, during my meetings with retail partners or street vendors, when a lady said “We will make reThela bigger than Amazon…” I felt I was done and I should pack my bags. That’s like “Aha!” 

Q. Were there any moments when you thought you could fail? How did you power through that?

We all have our fear of failure… I think it made me think harder on why I am still working on it when there is almost no return or benefit. It may sound crazy for a lot of people, but It's a matter of courage and a core belief that every activity is far more meaningful than it was earlier. You have to find reasons why you should love your work. It is not infatuation but a real love to commit yourself to that purpose. I stopped seeing words like runway or how long you can survive in this business the moment I realized how important your work is towards the development of millions, but act on “build one household at a time,” each day.