We’ve learned that during crises when we have less money and no sales, we need to be innovative and insightful enough that we can cut down on our excess expenses and cut short our power and resources wastage. So, we did a lot of changes in the plants to cut down the power and resources usage and these changes will prevail in the future also.
LinkedIn - @ManMohan Malik
1. Tell us about your background, journey and upbringing.
I started my first enterprise in the year 1979. At my very initial stage, it was a sort of compulsion (a matter of survival). As at a very young age I was loaded with a lot of responsibilities so, I started pushing my way out of it and started my first project, and now for more than 40 years, I have been expanding into various fields.
2. What inspired you to take action in your direction and what are your future plans?
We are aiming to develop the functional aspects for the post covid scenario. As we already have a large capacity of mushrooms and during this covid scenario the consumption of mushrooms have been hiked up in India due to its capability to boost up our immune system so we came up with few very nutritious products like vegan jerky.
As the most suitable substitute for beef is mushroom due to its chewy texture, high nutrition and good quality proteins (it will have 100% of vitamin D and 10 grams of vegan protein per serving with all of the therapeutic qualities of mushrooms. We have two plants and this jerky will be available at Amazon India within three months.
We also developed the Japanese reishi mushrooms. It is for the first time we are growing these and along with these reishi mushrooms we are also adding lion’s mane cordyceps as medicinal mushrooms, these high prised mushrooms used a lot for a culinary purpose like its powder can be added to the smoothies and kinds of pasta etc. but these are mainly used for therapeutic purposes.
These medicinal ranges of mushrooms will be launched in the market in the next 3-4 months. We’ve also developed reishi cookies as these mushrooms can have a bit bitter taste so we combined it with the cookies and developed an easier as well as a tastier way to have these mushrooms. These cookies are upscale healthy cookies as these are gluten-free and have raw sugar and jaggery with some flask seeds in them.
3. What does your typical workday look like?
In the present covid scenario the work has been impacted a lot usually, I travelled between my Gujrat plant to the Himachal plant and vice versa frequently. But lately, I haven’t travelled there and work from my home.
My days are completely devoted to work as I try and be available 24*7. I generally prefer to handle my overseas work after 7 in the evening as it’s a must to adjust with their time too.
And during the daytime, I am usually busy with the unit heads of my both Himachal as well as Gujrat plant. So, I try to carry on with our day-to-day execution and alongside I try to be a mentor for them.
4. Several global companies have come out and thrown their support behind not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this?
Although many people out there may not like my opinion on this as according to me all these stereotypes education is straight trash as what really, matters are the basic learnings of a person. The birds, they don’t go to any school or get coaching for feeding, building their nests and pushing their younger ones to make them fly.
3. What does your typical workday look like?
In the present covid scenario the work has been impacted a lot usually, I travelled between my Gujrat plant to the Himachal plant and vice versa frequently. But lately, I haven’t travelled there and work from my home.
My days are completely devoted to work as I try and be available 24*7. I generally prefer to handle my overseas work after 7 in the evening as it’s a must to adjust with their time too.
And during the daytime, I am usually busy with the unit heads of my both Himachal as well as Gujrat plant. So, I try to carry on with our day-to-day execution and alongside I try to be a mentor for them.
4. Several global companies have come out and thrown their support behind not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this?
Although many people out there may not like my opinion on this as according to me all these stereotypes education is straight trash as what really, matters are the basic learnings of a person. The birds, they don’t go to any school or get coaching for feeding, building their nests and pushing their younger ones to make them fly.
It's their basic learning, they inherited this, and it’s in their genes. The same is with us, humans are the most evolved species so we inherit a lot from evolution, the basic information which we inherited is the most valuable knowledge we have. But our education system is more inclined towards cramming and stereotyped learning. We cram or learn every subject; history, medicines, economics, mathematics etc. but in this way, we’re leaving our roots far behind.
Because the children and students are given more time for thinking, innovating, self-analysing and observing rather than teaching them being a book worm then they would learn how to analyse any situation and get the solution for any problem as this will make them more observant and innovative rather than being a crammer. They’ll become more solution-oriented, focused and persistent.
The main reason behind this shift is the effortless availability of information. This is a boon in some aspects but unlike before we don’t make efforts to learn anything.
As, today if we want to get any formulae of physics, it's just one click away from us but a few decades ago we were expected to read few books and search for it, in this process, we honed our thinking and observation skills.
A book can tell you what is newtons aw for gravity but it can make you understand its concept. And this applies to every single aspect of our lives because we need to understand things.
The main reason behind this shift is the effortless availability of information. This is a boon in some aspects but unlike before we don’t make efforts to learn anything.
As, today if we want to get any formulae of physics, it's just one click away from us but a few decades ago we were expected to read few books and search for it, in this process, we honed our thinking and observation skills.
A book can tell you what is newtons aw for gravity but it can make you understand its concept. And this applies to every single aspect of our lives because we need to understand things.
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5. How do you handle someone who has lied on their resume?
The main point is that all humans are humans and in times of necessities we can do a bit of a mistake but it also depends on the intensity of the mistake. I personally don’t judge a person solely on the basis of their resume and prefer to talk to the person and observe his communication skills and his attitude towards the challenges rather than testing his domain knowledge as these skills are much more important than your textbook knowledge.
So, if I find anyone at fault on their resume’s I don’t just jump to conclusions on their basis but ill also consider the circumstances as it's possible that at that point in time the person was desperate for this job. So, if he acknowledges for being at fault and is really desperate and passionate about his work then ill just let him off the hook. That’s how we can bring everyone related to us to live a happy and peaceful life.
6. How has covid changed things at your workplace & which of these changes do you intend to make permanently?
6. How has covid changed things at your workplace & which of these changes do you intend to make permanently?
We’ve learned that during crises when we have less money and no sales, we need to be innovative and insightful enough that we can cut down on our excess expenses and cut short our power and resources wastage. So, we did a lot of changes in the plants to cut down the power and resources usage and these changes will prevail in the future also.
So, we can save power, water, energy etc. and lead towards a sustainable growth structure. We need to know that this pandemic has changed a lot and the companies will have to provide their workers with proper space and hygiene facilities.
And the thing that’s going to stay forever is the shift of mindsets as now the people started shifting towards health-conscious lifestyle and eating habits. Because if only one-third of the total human population starts eating and thinking healthy then the trends will change and eventually it will bring a new shift in lifestyles.
7. What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs or those eyeing the top job?
In my opinion, the first fact to be an entrepreneur is that it's not a straight way to success. One may be very lucky and very smart to never face ups and downs as failures are the stepping stones of success because if one claims to never have faced any failure then either he’s not successful enough or he’s lying as you can’t have the taste of success without failures.
And the thing that’s going to stay forever is the shift of mindsets as now the people started shifting towards health-conscious lifestyle and eating habits. Because if only one-third of the total human population starts eating and thinking healthy then the trends will change and eventually it will bring a new shift in lifestyles.
7. What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs or those eyeing the top job?
In my opinion, the first fact to be an entrepreneur is that it's not a straight way to success. One may be very lucky and very smart to never face ups and downs as failures are the stepping stones of success because if one claims to never have faced any failure then either he’s not successful enough or he’s lying as you can’t have the taste of success without failures.
So an entrepreneur should never give up as a spider never give up on making its web in spite of falling several times and starting all over again.
8. Which is your favourite book/show and why?
Although I don’t read many books now due to my health issues back then I used to read a lot. And, as I am very fascinated about the theory of quantum physics which is trying to prove that nothing exists this all is an illusion, as we get so engrossed while watching a movie that when it ends then we realise that it was a movie, same is with the quantum physics that this all is a wave of energy.
So, there is a series of 5 videos on YouTube “the holographic universe”. And I am mostly interested in this type of videos and some spiritual content also. like I listen to a lot of satguru talks and Osho videos.
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