When Sanddhya first told her father that she plans to start her own flower business, he asked her “Which footpath are you going to sit on, and with how many buckets?” In a country where the flower business is more often than not associated with roadside florists, Sanddhya’s dream to start a floral service business was often looked down on derisively.
Someone who has studied all their life in India knows how “learning” is still a remote concept in many of the schools within the country. Preeti Rani is one of the people who figured this out not while attending school, but while spending time in one.
Paramjeet Kaur Gulati is a fascinating blend between a hard task-master and a friendly professional. The persona she adapts on a particular day tilts to either side, depending on the situation that she’s facing at that time. For instance, she’s pretty hard on the naysayers and those who doubt her abilities because of her gender.
Her mother had set up Tharangini in 1977, a labor of love across three decades, helmed to perfection for Padmini to either carry forward or let go. Whilst being very sick at that time, Padmini’s mother said to her, “I’m satisfied with Thrangini and what it has achieved in three decades.
Padmaja Rao recalls how once a factory owner she used to work with suddenly began bad-mouthing her in front of clients. “I’d worked with him for a few years, and brought him a lot of business – five years’ worth of it in just one! Then I hear that he’s been talking rubbish about me behind my back.
The 2008 Great Recession would have pushed back many entrepreneurs, but for Ivy Manohara, it was an opportunity to go after her dream. She decided to use this to set up her business: Filmapia – a venture that provides consultancy on ideal Shoot Locations to Filmmakers.
More often than not, people place a lot of emphasis on the big moments in life. What they do forget, is that the big moments have millions of small, seemingly insignificant but important in hindsight instances behind them. If we talk about Geetha’s life, that small, and a bit embarrassing moment, came in the form of a botched-up batch of brownies. “I decided to tinker with the recipe and not follow it to the last T. It turned into a brick. That’s when I realised baking is not the same as cooking; it’s basically a science and everything has to be proportional.”
Dr. Vinita Sharma’s business has profited her on a linear high, but not without its roadblocks and the whirlwinds of a learning curve. Of having to learn new ropes of the trade at the drop of a hat to continue her consistent path to success.
Listening to Nandesh Gupta one can easily decipher a mantra that he swears by: To always be on the learning curve. Be it starting a business, or managing one with decades of experience under one’s belt, to learn and constantly evolve with time is the only constant, Gupta believes.
Dr. Swetha Sandesh has a straightforward message for all those aspiring to become entrepreneurs: Enter the field only if you have the passion to do something, and not just to mint money. “It’s a very tough field, and sometimes you face a lot of resistance, even from family members. You think you’ll be your own boss and that’s it, but you end up doing everything.”
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