NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

By Sudhir Chowdhary

Maneet Gohil, co-founder and CEO, Lal10 (an online B2B wholesale marketplace for rural SMEs), was intrigued by the creative manufacturing industry, having visited his grandfather’s manufacturing unit of leather footwear in Jalgaon, Maharashtra since childhood. He realised market access was an issue for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), who had to rely on traditional domestic markets and sell products through trade shows, exhibitions, middlemen, or export houses. None of these MSMEs knew how to access international markets or had the basic design knowledge to make their products contemporary.

After completing his MBA degree in 2015, Gohil joined Flipkart to witness the scale technology can bring. “It was inspiring to see Sachin and Binny (Flipkart co-founders) at the office. They were demi-gods for all of us who were aspiring to become entrepreneurs,” says Gohil. “I got in touch with my former colleague Sanchit Govil and friend Albin Jose. We travelled to meet over 6,000 MSMEs in 18 states to understand the problem which we wanted to solve.”