“After realizing there could be a potential market for upcycling products in India, I left my job and started converting used tyres and drums into attractive furniture.”
Pramod Susare (Founder, P2s International)
A 27-year old mechanical engineer, Pramod Susare used to work in a multinational company in Pune but his life took a major turn when he went on a business trip to China in 2017. In China, he saw a few businesses recycling used materials, like drums and tyres, into attractive and useful furniture. He got fascinated by this idea. “That very moment I thought that this idea can be replicated in my home country India as well. After exploring the market deeply, I realized that there is hardly any competition in this sector. I rented a shop on 18th October 2018 and started working on my venture but also continued my job to meet daily expenses.”, said Pramod.
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES PROVIDED
P2s International is one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of:
- Drum and Tyre furniture,
- Automotive Furniture
- Eco-friendly garden designing solutions,
- Interior design solutions,
- Outdoor design solutions,
- Vintage products, and
- Other customized products.
THE FOUNDATION OF THE STARTUP
Destiny has a way of finding you. A small event changed Pramod’s life forever. One day, Pramod’s two-wheeler got punctured, “I went to a repair shop where I saw a heap of tyres. When I inquired about the cost of those tyres, I got to know that they are sold at just Rs. 7-8 per kg. One tyre costs around Rs. 30-40. I immediately started calculating labor costs, repair and recycling cost, and profit margins”, recalled Pramod.
This entire event gave him enough confidence and motivation to start looking at YouTube and other search engines to research and add knowledge to his lucrative business idea. This eventually led to the foundation of an upcycled furniture and design startup, P2s International in 2018.
When he started his venture, he used to do everything on his own from manufacturing and designing to painting and carpenting. The company had no employees for one year because of the lack of funds.
TURNING POINT IN THE CAREER
Pramod received his first order from a restaurant called Cafe Pune Studio, Pune which gave him the motivation to invest more time into his business. He received his next big order from Velvet Garden Restaurant, Thane which became a turning point in his career. “The amount I was proposed from that one single project was 5.5 lakhs. My annual salary was half of this amount (Rs. 2.5 lakhs),” he said. He made up his mind to focus entirely on his business. Therefore, he left his job after completing the project.
After the successful completion of his first order, he started receiving many big projects from renowned companies. As a proper setup and skilled workforce became the need of the hour, he employed 8 people including a highly talented painter, carpenter, and a designer. Currently, the company has 15 employees including skilled and experienced engineers and production heads.
CHALLENGES FACED
About facing big challenges, Pramod said, “When I started my business, there was no public awareness of upcycling. So, it was very difficult to sell products.” To overcome this challenge, he came up with an innovative plan. He approached a nearby sugarcane juice center and asked them to use the company’s upcycled furniture in the shop for free. This idea proved beneficial for Pramod. “In January 2019, I received my first order from a music cafe in Pune which earned me Rs. 50,000.”, recalled Pramod. As the cafe was inaugurated by big entrepreneurs and celebrities, Pramod’s products received appreciation and popularity.
Moreover, the Covid-19 pandemic hit the hotel and hospitality industry very hard. This impacted the entire business model of P2s International but Pramod didn’t want to sit back and give up. He started manufacturing sanitizer dispensers on a very large scale for approximately 3 months which yielded a profit of around 15 lakhs. When the world was again hit by the second wave of the pandemic, he manufactured around 300-400 hospital beds to small clinics, covid centers, and different hospitals.
FUTURE PLANS AND VISION OF THE COMPANY
P2s International started with delivering products to only local cities to avoid higher transportation costs. The business is now expanding into new big cities like Rajasthan, Orissa, Haryana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmednagar, Hyderabad, Gujarat, and Bangalore due to different marketing strategies. The company has recently delivered its products to a reputed company of South Africa as well.
The entrepreneur plans to open outlets in Delhi, Mumbai, and Rajasthan by 2022 to expand his business and overcome the challenge of bearing huge transportation costs.
The annual turnover of P2s International is between Rs. 90 lakhs to 1 crore. It gets around 10 to 15 orders from big hotels and cafes per month. A single order ranges from Rs 50,000 to 1 lakh.
