Stories
Ex-Uber India CMO Quit Rs 1 Cr Job for Farming, Shares Crucial Tips
- •Manisha Lath Gupta, former Uber India CMO, left a Rs 1 crore annual salary and a 20-year corporate career in 2020 to start farming.
- •She now lives on Aanandaa, a permaculture farm near Panchkula, emphasizing a 12-year planned transition rather than an impulsive move.
- •Gupta advises aspiring farmers to build their rural transition in parallel with their day jobs to maintain financial security and understand the lifestyle realities.
- •She warns that farming alone offers little income, stressing the need for diversified revenue streams; her farm uses eight different monetization methods.
- •Gupta highlights challenges like adapting to natural ecosystems, lack of urban conveniences, and potential social isolation, urging professionals to invest in "ecological security."
Key Questions Answered
In 2020, Manisha Lath Gupta walked away from her corporate career and annual salary of around Rs 1 crore after carefully planning a transition to rural life for 12 years. Having built financial freedom and a diversified investment portfolio, she chose to live permanently on her permaculture farm near Chandigarh.
Gupta advises aspiring farmers to avoid impulsive moves and romanticizing rural life. She recommends testing the waters by developing the property in parallel with a day job to maintain financial security, and slowly transitioning through a phased geographic relocation before making a permanent shift.
Warning that there is little money in selling food alone, Gupta diversified her farm's income into eight different sources. These revenue streams include an online seed store, permaculture and sustainable home tours, farm stays, consultations, training programmes, YouTube ads, and surplus produce sales.
