The Unusual Entrepreneur’s Simple Guide To Happiness

“You can do anything as long as you have the passion, the drive, the focus and the support”- Sabrina Bryan. I’ve had the joy of meeting someone who is a true testimony to this quote. Read on to get a glimpse into the life and days of a simple, humble and passionate entrepreneur and dancer.

Who Is Zeeshan Rang

A computer science engineer by profession and a Latin dancer by passion. Did his Masters in the US, moved to Bangalore to work with IBM and ended up settling in Punjab and joining his family business, Biocarve Seeds. Biocarve seeds is a leading company of flower, vegetable and cereal crops seeds in India with a history of over twenty two years. They have 35 permanent and about a 100 seasonal employees working for them.

How He Brings Joy At Biocarve Seeds

By treating all the employees of the workplace as part of a community. If an employee feels comfortable and part of the organization and the team, he/she will perform better and feel happy at the same time.

“The day an employee can crack a joke in front of his boss is when we know for sure that we are all equals and are working as a community with no hierarchy and discrimination”- an ideology he lives by.

Some of the practices which I really found interesting to keep the workforce happy were outdoor activities like playing badminton and volleyball together after the working hours, giving out Diwali gifts, hosting a celebration where employees come forward and showcase their talents and cutting cakes on their birthdays. For a community and for a set of people for whom birthdays hold no great significance, a simple gesture of celebrating the day by cutting a cake can leave a deep emotional impact and create a happy memory forever.

Giving Back To The Society

Also, another extremely beautiful initiative by them is providing free education to the daughters of their employees. Right from the initial years to college, they pay for the entire tuition fees, uniform, traveling expenses, etc. to promote education and make them understand the importance of it.  Through this, they believe the lives of these girls and the lives of their families will change forever.

How It All Started – La Baila Vista

Moving onto another venture that Zeeshan is a part of – La Baila Vista, a dance studio in Chandigarh specializing in Salsa, Bachata and Kizomba. And how it all started is a story worth sharing and taking away from. Being in the US for his masters, it was very difficult for him to connect with people. Having a lot of free time during the day, he wanted to make the most of it. By luck he found himself standing in front of two dance studios, one teaching Salsa and the other one Swing. Seeing the students in the Swing class look much happier, he was encouraged to sign up for that class. Being an extraordinary combination of introvert and desire to Socialize, Dance turned out to be a perfect ‘go to place’ for him. He moved onto doing Salsa after relocating to Bangalore. He showcased his talent on various platforms and after several years of practice, he was inspired to start a studio of his own and pass on his learnings.

One would be surprised to know that he is the same man who couldn’t shake a leg a few years ago when he was asked to, for his parents’ 25^th anniversary. He just looked at the choreographer dancing for 15 minutes, unable to figure out what’s happening and gave up the idea of dance even before he could give it a hand, or a leg. A relentless drive, loving focus, countless hours of sweating it out in practice are a few things that have defined his journey so far. He stays on the outskirts of Patiala and travels for 2 hours to Chandigarh every weekend to teach at his studio. And the only thing that is driving him to do so is pure passion.

What Zeeshan Thinks About Gifting

Zeeshan believes in the idea of thoughtful gifting. He likes to give gifts which people can use and not just ones that are put away in some corner or even worse, handed down to someone else. The gift that he remembers receiving as a young boy was an Air Gun gifted by his dad. And this remains a fond memory to date because of the emotional attachment he had with it. The first gift he ever gave to his wife was a drawing pad and a pencil because of her interest in art. It gives him immense joy to see her still use it and appreciate it.

Spreading Happiness

Biocarve seeds bring joy and delight to its customers by giving out free seeds and gardening tools to those who enjoy gardening. At La Baila Vista, free workshops, free events, free Salsa parties are organized just to promote the dance form and spread happiness amongst the participants. Zeeshan implemented the concept of a Birthday dance, something he saw being practiced in the US, in his studio. He noticed that his students were excited to attend class regularly during their birthday month so they could enjoy this little fun ritual. And all this with a touch of cake and some videos of the ritual go on social media and spread the joy even more! The only reason he is doing all this is because it’s rewarding for him to see people make memories, be happy and cherish the moments long after.

“I am extremely grateful to my family and wife for letting me be the way I am. I believe I wouldn’t have been able to do all that I am doing right now without the support of my family. And if things hadn’t been the way they are right now, I wouldn’t have been this happy in life.“- Zeeshan Rang

As I See It –

Coming from a dance background, I have known Zeeshan for a couple of years now. But I had no idea about some of the amazing things he is doing and the ways in which he is spreading the sunshine of joy into so many lives. It was truly a wonderful experience for me to have had this kind of interaction with him and getting to know him in a different light.

To know more about him and follow the work he is doing, click below –

La Baila Vista- https://www.salsachandigarh.com/

Bio carve Seeds- https://www.biocarve.com/

 

Aditi Mittal

Senior Editor@HWP