From the success story of an investment banker and a dental chain having celebrity clients to taking Amritsari papad overseas, these are the top 3 SMB stories this week

Telling stories of the small and medium businesses (SMBs) of India, this week SMBStory came across brands which believe that expansion lies at the push of innovation. These successful Indian businesses expanded overseas by bringing a change in their business model. Here are their stories. 

Ashika Group

Chirag Jain grew up listening to his family talk about financial services. His father started Ashika Group, a diversified financial services business. According to Chirag, the Kolkata-based company had grown into one of India’s largest financial services entities by the late nineties. 

Once Chirag became a CA, he joined the family business and wanted to start something new in the realm of financial services. “However, I saw an opportunity for a middle ground. What if I could work within the larger scheme of the family business, but start a new initiative, get new clients, and introduce new ways of working?” shares the 29-year-old Mumbai-based entrepreneur. 

And, Chirag already had an idea in mind. He wanted to help stagnant businesses grow and flourish by assisting them in raising capital and fulfilling their business objectives.  

“I believed in understanding the story of every brand or company so I could bring value in terms of money, growth, as well as ethics,” he says. 

Chirag was only about 23-years-old when he joined the family business in 2012. He launched investment banking vertical Ashika Capital Limited under parent company Ashika Group, keen on capitalising on the existing brand name and leveraging its expertise. 

The other business domains under the group today include corporate lending, stockbroking, wealth advisory, and asset management. 

In the last four years, Chirag, who is currently the CEO of Ashika Capital Limited, and Mihir Mehta, Senior Vice President of Investment Banking, Ashika Group, have worked together to raise approximately $250 million in equity and debt for their clients.

They have clients in sectors such as real estate, BFSI, consumer, etc. In their journey from a two-member team to a 22-strong one, both Chirag and Mihir believe that financial capital has played a key role. Terming it a catalyst for disruption, they say it can propel innovation with the potential to foster evolution. 

The bootstrapped company is now targeting raising $150 million for its clients in the next year.

Read full story here

Dentzz

Mumbai-based Shantanu Jaradi graduated dental school but didn’t take up a job or start practicing dentistry right away. He took a year off to analyse the dentistry market and understand how he could create an impact. 

The market for oral healthcare in India was large, as 50 percent of school-going children in India suffer from dental caries (cavities), while 90 percent of the adult population is affected by periodontal disease (gum infections), according to a report by NCBI. 

However, Shantanu found that despite the demand, customers felt a visit to the dentist was a negative, unpleasant, or painful experience.  

“There was a huge need for enhancing the experience of dentistry in general. I asked myself if I could convert the negative experiences into positive ones,” he tells SMBStory. 

This inspired him to start oral healthcare chain Dentzz in 2006 when he was 25-years-old. His idea was to use top-notch talent, state-of-art technology, and infrastructure to deliver a pleasant and premium experience to customers. He started by raising Rs 30 lakh from family and setting up two small clinics in Mumbai. 

Shantanu’s quality-driven approach and focus on aesthetic dentistry drew attention over the years. Bollywood celebrities and cricketers are among Dentzz’s high profile customers, the company claims. 

Today, Shantanu is at the helm of eight Dentzz centres in India, located in Mumbai and Delhi, and one centre in Dubai. He says Dentzz is seeing financial growth of 30 percent year-on-year, and plans to expand both domestically and internationally.

Read full story here

GRD papad

In 1937, S Pal Singh came to Ludhiana from Lahore (in now-Pakistan) with grit, determination, and Rs 100 in his pocket. Facing the struggle of earning a livelihood in a city, he could think of only one thing to do to make ends meet — using his skills to make papad. 

The demand for Amritsari papad at that time was on the rise, especially in the Punjab region. However, there were not many players in the market to cater to that demand. And so, S Pal Singh decided to hit this opportunity and start his own Amritsari papad brand. But, what could he do with just Rs 100, especially for a labour-intensive product?

In an interaction with SMBStory, S Amanpreet Singh, grandson of S Pal Singh, shares the 82-year-long journey of the business that has gone through thick and thin to become a much-sought after brand of Amritsari papad. 

“My grandfather started the business single-handedly without any support. He just had Rs 100 in his pocket, and papad-making requires intensive labour. But he didn’t lose hope. He started manufacturing papad by himself. At that time, there were no machines. From kneading the dough and blending spices to rolling out, everything was done manually, and he did it all by himself,” he says.

In the early days, when S Pal Singh started manufacturing papad, he charged Rs 5 per kg, and could manage to produce only 8-10 kgs per day. He opened a shop in Chaura Bazaar, Ludhiana, in a small area for retail known as ‘Amritsarian Di Hatti’, Amanpreet says,

“My grandfather by himself could churn out about 10 kg per day. And, after making the papad, he would sell them in the shop. So, you see, it was dual work he was involved in — manufacturing early in the morning and then opening the shop to sell.”

Things were going steady, and S Pal Singh was able to cater to the demand. But, the business’ scale and growth really grew apace in the 1960s when his son S Shyam Singh joined the business. Amanpreet recalls his father was just 15-years-old when he entered the business, and after he joined, they ventured into wholesale. 

Earlier, the supply and sales were restricted to Ludhiana city, but, after Syam joined, he explored nearby areas and expanded retail presence to small towns near Ludhiana, including Phillaur and Phagwara. By that time, the father-son duo had sourced labourers to increase their manufacturing output. 

Around the early 2000s, Amanpreet joined his father in the business. And, that was the beginning of the business’ modern trade. He revamped the traditional business model and formed the current brand of GRD Papad. He says,

“When I joined, I got most of the things already structured. The initial struggles and building the value of the product was already done long back. I had to take it forward keeping the traditional ethical values intact and, for that, I had a lot of responsibilities on my shoulder.”

The modern retail trade was growing then, with hypermarts like Big Bazaar, Easy Day, and others making a steady move in the Indian retail ecosystem. Amanpreet thought it was the right time to innovate and enter these spaces. Thus, in 2005, the brand arrived on the shelves of Big Bazaar, and since then there has been no looking back. 

Having been around for over 80 years, Amritsarian Di Hatti now boasts of 14 SKUs including papad, wadi, mangodi, rice fryums, soya chaap, and more. 

Amanpreet explains that papad, wadi, and mangodi are manufactured in his own units while the rice fryums, sabudana papad, soya chaap, rice papad, and others are sourced from other locations in India. 

There are three spice variants (high, medium, and low) in papad and wadi and the medium spice papads have gained the most traction, says Amanpreet. 

After Big Bazaar, the company has also entered Best Price, Reliance Fresh, D Mart, and Metro Cash and Carry across Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, and other states. 

Today, Amanpreet claims GRD Papad captures 80 percent of the Punjab-Amritsari papad market, and the company is recording an annual turnover of about Rs 5 crore. 

Read full story here

(Edited by Megha Reddy)