Beggars Corporation is a legally recognized business that was founded by social worker Chandra Mishra of Odisha. He has launched an initiative to convert beggars into business owners under the slogan “Don’t Donate, Invest.” In addition to changing people’s lives, he has made a 16.5% return on investment for investors.
We have all attempted to give money at some point to help people’s lives. On-street corners and at markets, we frequently witness people paying alms to beggars. But have those begging people’s lives changed? A social worker now urges people to support beggars instead of giving money.
A social worker from Odisha named Chandra Mishra has therefore developed a novel idea called the Beggars Corporation. Don’t Donate, Invest is his catchphrase. He has also changed the course of 14 beggar families’ lives in the process.
Additionally, Mishra gave his initial investors their money back within six months while earning a 16.5% return on their investment. Chandra Mishra stated to GNT, “We want investment, not a donation.”
Chandra Mishra claimed that he first had the idea to improve the lives of beggars while he was in Gujarat. He had the thought after observing individuals beseeching while seated in front of a temple. He made the decision to hire them by providing them with specialized training.
Mishra arrived in Varanasi on December 31, 2020, having worked on employment policy in a number of states before that. Despite the fact that it was his first time, he went there fully prepared. He had already gotten in touch with Janmitra Nyas, a nearby NGO in Varanasi, and expressed interest in helping to employ begging street people.
The NGO decided to assist Mishra because they were aware of his work. Mishra conducted a survey of Varanasi’s ghats and discovered that there were plenty of beggars there. He took the initiative and made an effort to get to know the beggars by finding out more about their backgrounds. He failed to persuade even one beggar to assist him, though.
When the Covid-19 lockdown was implemented for the second time in 2021, a lot of beggars came up to him asking for assistance. And in August 2021, Beggars Corporation was established.
The first participant in Mishra’s programme was a mother who used to beg with her child on the Varanasi ghats. The woman had nowhere to go after her husband threw her out of the house. She received bag-making instruction from Mishra, who also provided her a job.
Mishra took the woman’s handcrafted bags to a conference and had a good response, so it was a long but steady process. More beggars joined Beggars Corporation over time, and reputable people began to applaud Mishra’s effort.
In August 2022, Mishra formed Beggars Corporation as a “For Profit Company” with his partners Badrinath Mishra and Devendra Thapa. He has now helped 14 beggar families start their own businesses. Two families have opened stores selling flowers and items for religious rites close to temples, and a dozen households are collaborating with them to produce bags.
Mishra claimed that in order to improve the lives of beggars, he invited people to donate any sum—from only Rs. 10 to Rs. 10,000. He received funding for this campaign from 57 individuals at the beginning, and it lasted for 1.5 months. A Chhattisgarh engineer made the first contribution. He used this money to give the beggars skill training and to set them up for jobs. Along with registering his business, he took part in the Innovative Startups Competition.
He was included in the Top 16 Mindful Startups as his work increased, and he later earned a spot in the 100 Innovative Startups. His work greatly benefited from this.
“We then returned the money to the people from whom we took the money in six months with 16.5% ROI (Return on Investment),” said Chandra Mishra. “We did not think that we would be able to do this, but we wanted investment, not a donation, which we got. And when the time came, we returned it, and the investors made a profit,” he added.
Mishra claims that each beggar just needs Rs. 1.5 lakh to support his scheme. Out of this, Rs 50,000 is used to provide skill training for three months, and the remaining Rs 50,000 is used to put up the infrastructure for the person’s business.
In addition to the Beggars Corporation, he founded the School of Life. The children who scrounge on Varanasi’s ghats in the shape of Shiva-Hanuman are the focus of special dedication to this statue.
