Brief introduction about yourself and tell us something about Little Charms? Hello readers, I am Roshni Baronia , founder Little Charms , gifting portal for personalized kids products. Does that define me? Not really!! There is so much more to an individual than designations and roles they play. But yes, Little Charms is an integral part of me as I have been living and sleeping with it for 5 years. This is an online portal where one can find solutions to their needs of party favors, customized gifting and kids room décor accessories.
What ignited the idea and inspired you to start the venture? Color and design inspire creativity not just in our minds but in the mind of young ones too. Kids need to feel special, loved and thought of all the time. So I made a lot of décor items for my kid’s room. While doing this, I found that when I used to put his name on the handmade decorations, he felt a sense of ownership and belongingness which made that piece very dear to him. This idea of personalizing room décor and then bags, bath linen, gifting products was a gradual process that has culminated into littlechams.net
How has your journey been so far, any plans for expansion? Journey so far has been a business management course which no institute could have taught!! Seriously, an entrepreneur wears so many hats, she has to acquire so many skills that it is impossible to be taught in one college course. I must say, it has been and still is great. For expansion plans, yes we are foraying into lot many new product lines to give our customers loads of variety which are handpicked and exclusive.
Did you face any specific challenges while starting the venture? The initial challenge for a bootstrapped venture is resources. Since one is so tight on budget, handling too much work by self becomes inevitable. But when your team grows, managing and retaining them becomes a challenge!
What are your views on the thought, that as compared to male counterparts, it’s harder and more struggling for females to make a mark professionally? You don’t struggle for a thing you love. If a person enjoys her work, it is a journey which will have its ups and down. If one feels they are struggling, then they better get out of it soon. Also professional challenges are same for men and women. We have enough examples of women on top so there is no glass ceiling.
What piece of advice would you like to give to the aspiring youth who wish to pursue their dream of becoming an entrepreneur? Strive for the best, be prepared for the worst. But trust me, worst never comes if you believe in yourself and your dreams. According to you, what are the top three essential skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life? Family is the support system due to which it has been possible to do what I am doing right now. So a lot of credit goes to them. As for balancing of work and family is concerned, being self-employed gives extreme levels of flexibility in my routine so I don’t think being an entrepreneur has affected adversely in any way my family life. In fact when I meet with new people, know their ideas and share it with my kid, his imagination and creativity gets a boost.
What are your views and opinions towards the ambiguous need to promote women entrepreneurship and women empowerment in India? There ofcourse is a need to improve industry norms to boost entrepreneurship which very encouragingly has been done through the recent Startup India, Standup India initiative. If startups in general get support and facilitation from government, women entrepreneurs will get their share by default. As for empowerment, we really need to work towards it in rural areas especially which I believe can be achieved through education and awareness drives. It should be a people initiative more than the government.
Something for IWIL IWIL reinforces my above mention, that there is no glass ceiling. For women, by women is perfectly put across as an example to follow by IWIL. My felicitations to founders Deepa and Nidhi for creating a platform for women entrepreneurs where they can get from mentoring to funding to counseling, all under one roof. Great work team!
