While most dream of settling in big cities, Hariom Nautiyal chose to walk away from it. Once a web developer in Bengaluru, he traded deadlines and corporate stress for cowsheds and fresh air in his native village of Barkot, Dehradun. What began as a risky return soon transformed into one of Uttarakhand’s most inspiring stories of rural entrepreneurship and community upliftment.
Leaving the Corporate Race Behind
Hariom landed a well-paying IT job during the 2009 recession, a big achievement for his family. Yet city life felt suffocating.
“We lived in constant fear, fear of layoffs, fear of missing out, even fear of posting vacation photos. That wasn’t the life I wanted,” he recalls.
In 2013, he took a bold step: resign, move back home, and start from scratch. Villagers mocked him, calling him “useless” and “crazy.” But Hariom found peace among cows more than people and followed his instinct.
From ₹9 Profit to a Multi-Crore Brand
With just 10 cows, he began selling milk. But without customers, he was forced to give away milk for free. Some days, he earned just ₹9.
Instead of quitting, he innovated.
- He installed a milk collection centre for local farmers.
- He introduced quality testing using lactometers, offering milk for free if it failed standards, winning customers’ trust.
He converted surplus milk into ghee, paneer, rabri, ice creams, and even pickles and candies.
Birth of Dhanya Dhenu , A Brand That Feeds and Empowers
Today, his company Dhanya Dhenu sells:
✅ Fresh milk & ghee
✅ 20+ varieties of ice creams
✅ 15 types of pickles & traditional delicacies
✅ Fermented village drinks like pallar
What started as a one-man struggle is now a ₹2 crore annual enterprise employing 500 people from 15 nearby villages, especially women, widows and marginalised families.
A Message to Every Dreamer
“There was a time I earned just ₹9 a day. Today, I make ₹5,000 daily from milk alone. Success is slow but steady if you stay patient,” says Hariom.
His journey is not just a business story, it is a testament that India’s villages are not places of scarcity, but of opportunity.
At Take Care International Foundation, we salute grassroots changemakers like Hariom who choose courage over comfort and build livelihoods not just for themselves but for entire communities.
English
Arabic
Hindi
Malay