The struggle Prasenan went through is the struggle that every small business owner goes through when they try to make their dream come true. In his case, he wanted to switch from a traditional shikara to a boat that was powered by the sun so that he could take guests across #Vembanad Lake. His journey with us began four years ago, when he got permission from Kerala Ports to go ahead with the plan for a #solarboat.
He had raised only a small amount of money for this solar boat at that point. Yet, that did not stop him from discussing his dream with us. Like any other startup we were in our own struggle with raising working capital. Because of this, we couldn’t really help him. But we respected his grit and wanted to support as much as we could. We asked our friends and people who cared about us for help. A lot of them stepped up to help him raise money. One important person and early backer was Kumar Bala. He gave Rs. 5 lakh to kickstart the project. We hoped that Prasenan would be able to get the remaining money while the manufacturing was on. But the Covid effect made it hard for him to get help from banks from 2020 to 2023.
Last year, he finally raised 30% of the budget through a cooperative bank, and we decided to defer the remaining 30% until he starts making money. After all his struggle, the Destiny model #solarcruiseboat was finished and launched in to water. Only tests and trials with the Kerala Port officials need to be done now. Once those are done in two weeks, Prasenan will finally be able to make his long-cherished dream come true: taking tourists on his solar cruise boat through the beautiful waters of #Alapuzha and #Kottayam.
I wish the archaic Sarfaesi act is amended to help easy financing of boats. In case of automobiles one can purchase one with 10% downpayment with vehicle acting as collateral for the 90% financing. This is not the case in boats and that remains as the biggest bottleneck in growth of boating industry. Will Ministry of Finance and Narendra Modi act?
Sandith Thandasherry 