Corporate Chai Has Never Been Better

Rajeyshree Chhetri’s life before she started her current enterprise is the classic story that all Indian parents envy. A young lady from a small town, she charted her way to success like most people envision in our society – excelling in education and then working at some of the best companies in the world. Her decision to leave all of that and become an employer soon after is often something many parents often worry about. But she has clearly used her mental fortitude to her advantage by launching a successful company that she is passionate about.

Regular 9-5 job was getting too comfortable for me. I wanted to do something of my own and wear an employer’s hat to provide a job rather than doing one.
Miya Biwi ab Chaiwale (MBA Chaiwale) is an amazing name for an enterprise, because it displays the cheeky and affable sense of humor that has never seemed to dwindle from Rajeyshree’s life. It also speaks to her well-grounded personality. She was motivated to start her enterprise of running an affordable-yet-luxury establishment for chai in eco-friendly single use cups when she visited a similar shop at a mall in Siliguri, charging Rs 33/- for a single plastic cup of chai. Thanks to her exceptional corporate experience, it was clear to her that there was a genuine market opportunity in this space.

Having my roots attached to Darjeeling, I believe I understand tea. I saw what the market offered, and I felt I could offer better. By then, I understood regular job isn’t my cup of tea – did I say Tea? Yes, Tea – what better than Tea?

Today her business considers itself to be at war with the medically and environmentally hazardous plastic cups and paper cups and wax-coated paper cups. A well-intentioned business like hers can often be a pain to sell to potential investors, but she has taken all those actions head-on, backed up with the belief that she is pulling all the right strings, both commercially and morally.

We approached many offices and malls for business opportunity, but the response was low to negligible. While corporates and key influencers make statements to protect the environment and promote healthy habits, I encourage them to move beyond words and transverse them into action. Help us to help yourself!

Rajeyshree is an interesting person to watch in action. She mixes her formidable corporate experience with a contagious liveliness that gives raises eyebrows and twitches lips into amused smiles everywhere she goes. It is also clear that she genuinely loves what she does. She humorously refers to customer relations as ‘chai pe charcha’, and sells her business by describing (with wonder in her eyes) how chai is a genuine emotion to the people of India, and how it relates to our history and our culture even now. She genuinely considers her product to be part of her history, and of the numerous delighted customers, she lovingly serves.

The best possible summation of her life’s philosophy; however, comes from how she describes her own perception of her life. She seems to reject the idea that you have to be exceptional to change things for the better and doesn’t seem to subscribe to any personal stories of exceptionality either. Paradoxically, this is one of the many things that garner a lot of love and affection from her customers. She is made of everything we wish all enterprising persons would be made of – sharp wit with a lust for life.