Askar Poonthala’s start-ups speak of his entrepreneurial mindset and risk-taking nature, The start is
always the hardest but once you overcome that fear, there is no stopping you.
Askar Poonthala Education and Career
Askar Poonthala is a native of Malappuram (Kerala). He had his schooling in V.H.M.H.S SCHOOL,
Morayur, and continued his Undergrad course in commerce at Al Ameen College of Arts, Science and
Commerce in Bengaluru. Later on, he completed his M.B.A. from Mes Aimat, Aluva (Ernakulam
District, Kerala). Askar specialized in Finance and marketing and started his business journey in 2007.
In the next ten years, he gained experience in different fields like logistics, retail and food catering. He
is a serial entrepreneur who has diversified his efforts and plans in various fields.
Business Journey – Food on Touch and Errando
Askar has mastered portfolio management, team management, customer service, business development
and sales, the crucial elements to running a successful business. Askar started his first business, Food on
Touch, in 2016, which was one of the first food delivering companies in Kerala. After two years,
another company called Errando was started by Askar in Kozhikode (kerala). They connect people by
making deliveries, be it medicine, food, or any other pickup, in both B2B and B2C spaces. The
Organization had to face stiff competition from Zomato, Swiggy and Doordash. However, Errando, the
first hyperlocal delivery startup in Kerala, ranked 81 among the 555 competitors. Then, the team
launched its WhatsApp application programming and has planned to extend its services to tier 1 and tier
2 cities.
The uniqueness of his Start-Up
Askar Poonthala’s next move was towards construction. He was of the view that the construction
industry was very vast and unorganized. A customer, who wanted to build a house or complex, had to
run behind various vendors who were supplying materials for construction. He wanted to
minimize/remove these kinds of unpleasant experiences for the customer. So, he started Buildo
Marketing Technologies at Calicut in the year 2022. He aims to provide access to all products and
services of construction under a single roof.
Buildo-Market is a hub of every construction-related material. Premium quality branded products
ranging from tiles to kitchen slabs are supplied at a competitive price. Buildo not only supplies
construction materials but also provides services like interior designing using the latest technology.
Buildo app is India’s first customer-centric building materials marketplace. Buildo is focused on
advancing construction and material supply with Artificial intelligence.
Buildo Market is the best supplier of top-quality Laterite stones chosen from Payyanur (a city in Kerala
well known for laterite stones). It proudly announces its success in supplying the best quality stones to
many projects in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. They aim to supply laterite stones PAN India
(across all the states in India). The Organization has also included renovation and re-construction to
have more customer interactions.
Challenges
During COVID-19, every activity was at a stand-still stage, Askar marched one step forward and
interacted with clients from different places through WhatsApp/video calls and retained them until
everything came back to normalcy.
Askar feels that logistics and funding are the major challenges which an entrepreneur with this type of
start-up has to face. In the last 10 years, he faced barriers like the pandemic (both his businesses depend
on logistics and mobility), tried out new methods using the latest technology, accepted challenges, and
overcame them with persistence and innovation.
In the current financial year, he has planned to open five more experience centres in South India and if
funds permit, he has ideas to expand his business to the Middle East (countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar) as well.
His advice to young entrepreneurs is to maintain their consistency and strong will to achieve.
Achievements
In the financial report for Buildo market's first fiscal year, Askar expresses gratitude to the team and
vendors for supplying premium quality products that contributed to the organization's success and
helped achieve profitability by the end of March 2022. He has reported that he takes pride in
maintaining cordial relationships with the vendors and customers to develop a successful and
sustainable business.