From humble beginnings to a successful business with an annual turnover surpassing Rs 25 crore, the success story of Momo food chain Momomia’s founder Debasish Majumder highlights the never-give-up attitude and the success that often comes after facing adversities and learning from them.
Debasish comes from Guwahati, Assam. Born into a lower-middle-class family in Bengal, he aspired to become a businessman from a young age, despite financial difficulties. He was inspired by his grandfather’s wise words “Make a name for yourself; the money will follow”. However, his family’s financial health forced him to pursue a stable 9-5 job and put his dream of becoming an entrepreneur on hold.
Debasish took a job at a bank after completing his college where he earned Rs 1,800 per month. He made his way to the top of the corporate sector by working hard. His dedication helped him earn promotions and he eventually ended up earning a salary of Rs 1 lakh per month. But even after succeeding in the corporate world, he wanted to start his own business.
This made him take the big step of quitting his bank job in 2018 to launch an ice cream startup. To make the startup work, he ended up investing all his savings and also borrowed money and left no stone unturned to save his venture. Unfortunately, he was left with Rs 8 lakh debt as his business failed in the span of a year.
It was indeed a testing time for him full of challenges. He was not financially sound at that point in time and couldn’t even afford his mother’s medical treatment. Yet, his parents stood by him as pillars of strength, pushing and motivating him to pursue his dreams despite the adversities he faced.
Debasish realised about the unavailability of high-quality and enriching momos in the market when dining at a restaurant in Guwahati where he was served low-quality momos. He then carried out market research and came to a conclusion that there is a lot of potential in this untapped market.
Debasish borrowed Rs 3.5 lakh in 2018 to launch his first Momomia outlet in Guwahati. Initially, he faced a lot of difficulties but his determination paid off. He established Momomia’s first franchise outlet in 2020, after which his business took off with great speed.
Today, Momomia has more than 350 outlets in India.
