Founded by husband-wife duo Chetan Walunj and Aditi Bhosale Walunj, the start-up is working on bringing renewable energies such as ethanol, methanol and biofuels on its mobile distribution network. And while Repos has scripted success, not much was known about how the founders landed a meeting with Ratan Tata.
That is, till Aditi shared the inspiring story on LinkedIn recently.
“Our encounter with Ratan Tata sir was not a normal one. It’s a
Hausla Junoon Story. Started with what I learnt from Sadhguru,” Aditi began.
The founder revealed that they needed a mentor to help their firm grow, and who better than Tata to help channel their journey. So when Aditi casually mentioned about trying to set up a meeting with the business tycoon, her better half was confused.
“We both have no formal business education but we learnt one thing very early in our lives that ‘An excuse towards anything is a foundation which one builds a house of failure’. Everyone told us you cannot meet him and it’s impossible. We didn’t use this as an excuse. NO was never an option and we got up and left for Mumbai,” she revealed, adding that the couple prepared a 3D presentation of how they wanted to change the energy distribution and deliver any energy/fuel to the last mile using technology.
“We sent handwritten letters to him , reached out to some right people and waited for 12 hours outside his house & finally when we went back to our room at 10pm we got a call,” Aditi recalled. When she answered the phone, she knew who the man on the other side was.
“This is Ratan Tata here. I got your letter. Can we meet?” and that’s how the Walunjs ended up at Tata’s house for their first meeting with the billionaire.
The meeting went on for 3 hours, which Aditi called a “sheer mediation where he heard their ideas, shared his experiences and guided them.”
“Post that Repos is where it is today because of HIM,” Aditi added, “From
helping us, to Ratan Tata sir conversations on the phone, to showing him our first Mobile Fuel Station to him giving his insights, to having some amazing conversations over coffee to receiving sir’s first token investment in 2019 and to now receiving another round in April 2022.”
Aditi also thanked Tata’s team that helped Repos, especially Shantanu Naidu, whom she called “an angle in disguise”.
Repos is currently present in over 220 cities across India through its 1,500-plus partners and 2,500-plus Repos mobile fuel pumps.