He was the President of the Students Union in the year 1971-72, and he also served as the president of the Students Union of MS Law College in Odisha from 1974-75.Instead of going for a secured government job, he decided to be an entrepreneur.Initially, Sri Mishra was into the business of supplying laborers to the stevedores. With time, he realized the potential in stevedoring and, he got his first break in 1979 when he successfully completed the shipment of care foods for shipping American president line, creating new records in this field. This was hugely acclaimed in the state and in an American journal.Apart from handling cargo and stevedoring, Mishra also forayed into other port-related activities including chartering of vessels, intra-port transportation, freight forwarding, supplying and manning of marine crafts, owing and operating of ports and terminals, bunkering operations, lighterage operations, warehousing, inland waterways transportation, steamer agency and customs house agency, in-plant operations, riverine cargo operations, equipment ownership and operations, end to end logistics solutions and mining.He also has a presence in the field of hospitality, education, automobile retailing, and dealership.Mahimananda Mishra is the sole authorized wholesale distributor and stockist for several leading FMCG products and leading MNCs in the state of Odisha. Among the many other avenues, the OSL group has a presence in Oil and Gas explorations and allied services, manning at various mega plants, FTWZ, Tank Farm, and Luxury merchandise retailing.