Brief introduction about yourself and tell us something about your E-commerce portal Jaipur Fabric? I am a Chartered Accountant (ICAI) and have worked in Banks in Mumbai (As Senior Manager in Kotak Mahindra Bank) and Dubai (as Finance Head in Emirated National Bank of Dubai, UAE). After that I returned to my city Jaipur where I had my son and soon started working on my own. I started Jaipur Fabric in June2015.
What ignited the spark in you to start a new venture leaving behind a flourishing financial career? Love for the city and the need to show its rich cultural traditions to the world via Home furnishing and fashion fabrics by keeping pace with the changing buying behaviors globally.
Gist about your product line and please tell us, are there any plans for expansion? In Jaipur fabric we deal in all major home décor items like bedsheets, bedsets, comforters, quilts, curtains, cushion covers, diwan set, table covers, fashion wear and much more.
What all major challenges did you face while starting your venture? Taking care of business with a new born baby is a big challenge. That is where family support really helped. Another challenge was to get consistent quality for hand-made products. So we had long brainstorming sessions including the artists themselves and streamlined some production processes. Another challenge is that of brain drain – Jaipur still has some scope of improvement in retaining and attracting good talents.
Tell us about Surmanja Infotech and your association with the concern. Jaipur fabric is empowered by Surmanja Infotech Private Limited, which is a software development company started by me and my husband (Jayant) back in 2011 and focuses on SAAS based applications. I handle the Finance, HR and Daily operations while Jayant takes care of Technology, Product development and Marketing. One of its software’s is Marginify (www.marginify.com), which is an e-commerce platform for creating your own online stores. Many Online e-commerce stores (including JaipurFabric) are made on Marginify software and running very successfully.
What piece of advice would you like to give to the aspiring youth who wish to pursue their dream of becoming an entrepreneur? Think your plan through before starting and once final leave no stone unturned to make it work.
According to you, what are the top three essential skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur? Hard work, Passion and Perseverance
How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life? Has the family been supportive? Where there is a will, there is a way. All work becomes manageable if you want the same. It becomes a bit hectic, but still I manage my work alongwith my kids and family. Absolutely, without the support of family I could have done nothing.
What are your views and opinions towards the ambiguous need to promote women entrepreneurship and women empowerment in India? It is very important to promote Woman entrepreneurial skills in India as we still need to evolve out completely from being a male dominant society. There are some parts of the country which treats woman well but a major part still has a long way to grow up to those maturity levels. Woman can be very good at managing things and a little support can do wonders.
Something for IWIL It is a great platform and would go a long way to boost woman confidence.
