A stitch here, a snip there: How Lavanya Nalli made her presence felt in her age-old family business

The name ‘Nalli’ is synonymous with one of the oldest and most reputed saree brands in India. The 94-year-old saree business today is worth Rs 800 crore and Lavanya Nalli, a fifth-generation member of the family, heads it as its Vice-Chairperson. In a conversation at HerStory’s Women on a Mission Summit, Lavanya looks back at her journey of modernising the family empire. 

The accidental businesswoman

Lavanya said that her childhood years were spent in her grandparents’ home above the first Nalli store in Chennai. She grew up listening to elders in the family discussing the business in their daily conversations and called it ‘work-life harmony’ instead of ‘work-life balance’. Little did she know that she would go on to become the first woman in the family to join the business in five generations.

“Although we are a 94-year-old business, we have had a woman family member in a leadership position in the business only recently. In 2005, there were only two women in the company- my father’s secretary who had joined the company in ‘83 and me,” she said.

Lavanya had taken up engineering at the behest of her parents. However, a college break gave her the opportunity to understand the economics of her family business. This inculcated an interest in her to pursue a business career after graduation and join Nalli formally.

Initially, her presence meant very little to the adults handling the family business.

“I would not say that they discouraged me, but it was not exactly active support either. I would like to refer to it as my family ‘indulging’ me. They used to think yeah, just let her be, what’s the worse that can happen anyway,” laughed Lavanya. 

But she made her presence felt in the family business for the next four years as the Vice President of Nalli Group of Companies. During this time, she helped to increase the store count of the business from 14 to 21, increasing the profit share and updating products to suit a fashion-forward generation.

Later, Lavanya left the family business for seven years and completed her MBA from Harvard Business School. She worked with companies such as McKinsey & Company and Myntra before making her comeback to Nalli in 2015.

Once back, Lavanya invested in building the ecommerce segment for the family business, which broke even within four years and is now fully profitable.

While jumping careers can seem daunting, Lavanya expressed that the perks are greater than the probability of failure. She also felt that the lack of familial expectations from her worked in her favour.

“Sometimes I feel it was good that my family just let me be in the business. This allowed me to experiment with the business often in plain sight. In India, sons are often told to lead the family business forward when they are just freshers and are in need of guidance. In my case, my family did not put such pressure on me,” said Lavanya.

Conceptualising Nalli Next

One of the most important developments that Lavanya brought into her family business was the introduction of Nalli Next format in 2007. 

Lavanya said that while the brand was associated with exquisite sarees worn for special occasions, the same impression was pushing away the younger generations from becoming potential Nalli customers.

“Nalli had a certain kind of clientele - either it would be women who came to buy a saree for some major occasion or older women looking for regular wear. There were these young girls who would accompany their mothers and grandmothers to these stores but would not look for a saree or a piece of clothing for themselves. I researched this and found out that these young women perceived Nalli to be old-fashioned, filled with Kanjeevarams and with big checkered sarees,” Lavanya recalled.

This prompted her to make Nalli accommodative of the younger generation’s taste. From changing the interiors to retraining the salespersons, Lavanya made sure younger women would at least look around to see if they can find something that appeals. 

Today, Nalli Next has a store in Chennai and Bangalore.

A nuanced approach to gender disparity

Lavanya believes dealing with gender disparity requires a more nuanced approach than a radical one.

“Many companies don’t admit what really goes on behind closed doors. Women candidates are rejected based on probabilities like what if she takes maternity leave, what if she doesn’t want to work beyond seven in the evening, providing safe passage to home and the list goes on. "

"Hiring managers start seeing female candidates as an economic burden. We need to start working from there and use data to show that women are more loyal and hardworking. This can override compliance burden,” said Lavanya.

Advice for the younger generation

Just going for it is what drives Lavanya. She advised younger generations to follow their heart and take that leap of faith.

“The world today is so much different than when I joined. It is only moving up and onwards. Entrepreneurship is so much easier today so people should go and do it. Yes, you might look back and get cringed at the fact that you were passionate about something. But that would be learning. You don’t lose anything when you take the step; you lose it when you don’t,” concluded Lavanya.

Lavanya also owns her private label, Etnische.

A shout out to the sponsors of Women on a Mission Summit 2022, an Initiative by HerStory, by YourStory - BYJU’S, the presenting partner, and other sponsors - Kyndryl, Sequoia Spark, Zilingo, Atlassian, Akamai, Freshworks for Startups, and Netapp Excellerator.