Meet Musthafa PC, a coolie's son who went on to build Rs 2000 crore company iD Fresh Food by selling Idli Dosa batter

Born in Kerala, Musthafa's father was a coolie. Musthafa dropped out of school after failing in Class 6 to join his father on the farm. "We barely earned ₹ 10 in daily wages. Eating three meals a day was a distant dream. I'd tell myself, 'Right now, food is more important than education'," he shared with Humans of Bombay in an interview. A teacher however helped Musthafa return to school which helped him get educated and land a job.

Despite having a well-paying job, Musthafa was always interested in starting his own business. Mustafha later set up iD Fresh Food, a ready-to-eat food manufacturer. The company employs over thousand youngsters and manufactures Idli and Dosa batter.

Initially, Musthafa PC invested Rs 50,000 in the company which was started in a 50 square foot kitchen with a grinder, mixer and a weighing machine. "It took us over 9 months to sell 100 packets a day," says Musthafa. 

Earlier, a mixture of 15,000 kg of idli was prepared from 5,000 kg of rice at iD Fresh Food and today the company is selling four times as much mixture in hundreds of food stores and metro cities. Musthafa is known as the breakfast king of the country, whose annual turnover was around Rs 100 crore in the year 2015-2016. It increased to Rs 182 crore in 2017-1018. iD Fresh Food ended FY21 with Rs 294 crore in revenue. The company is now worth Rs 2000 crore.  

The business tycoon has one regret that his childhood teacher is not alive to see his success. "When I returned home, I learnt that he'd passed away. I was heartbroken and thought, 'If only sir could have seen what a laborer achieved because of him!' Now, I speak of him every chance I get; to honor his legacy," he once said.