What happens when a factory stops being just work and starts becoming part of a village?

I was speaking with Nadeem Jafri, the founder of Hearty Mart, about how businesses can shape communities, and he shared the story of Sathal, a small village near Dholka in Gujarat. For many years, most of Sathal’s youth would walk to Dholka GIDC, stand outside the factory gates, and hope to be picked for daily wage work. “Some would get a shift, others would return home with nothing. That uncertainty was a way of life,” Nadeem told me.

In 2016, Hearty Mart set up a spice factory in Dholka GIDC. Two of Nadeem’s partners were from Sathal, and when the time came to build the team, they looked first to their own village. “These were families we knew, people we had grown up with, and there was already a bond of trust,” he said.

That decision shaped the company in ways no one had imagined. “One boy who had worked at a printing unit became our production head. Another, who had some experience in accounts, joined finance. Slowly, as we created departments, we kept turning to Sathal, and the youth of the village stepped into those roles,” Nadeem recalled.

The link with Sathal, however, goes back even further. “Hearty Mart started in 2004, and our very first employee was from Sathal, along with my partners,” Nadeem said. Over two decades later, he sees the generational change. “Many of them studied in vernacular schools and left education halfway, but their children have studied in English medium schools. Some have gone on to B-Schools, some to Law schools in Ahmedabad, even pursuing their Masters now.”

The effect is visible both inside the factory and outside in the village. The same young men who once waited at the gates for daily wages are now running operations. Their children are aiming higher, stepping into careers and institutions their parents could not have imagined. “The village economy started improving, and with that came dignity,” Nadeem reflected.

He put it simply: “These young people were always capable. All they needed was a platform. We gave them an opportunity, but they are the ones who built something much bigger.”

In Sathal, a factory became more than work. It became stability, pride, and leadership. And it leaves us with a question worth asking everywhere: what happens when a factory stops being just work and starts becoming part of a village?