“If you dream big, you can overcome failures”- here are top 3 inspiring stories covered this week
While one entrepreneur suffered a huge loss, the other faced difficulties getting orders despite strong connections. These stories show how big dreams can overcome failures.
It is famously said, try and try until you succeed.
For the new-age entrepreneurs who are struggling in a competitive business ecosystem, failures are inevitable. However, it is due to their strong hope and never-give-up attitude that they turn their failures into success.
This week, on SMBStory, we covered stories of entrepreneurs who dreamt big to achieve their goal, and despite many failures and difficulties, made businesses worth crores.
Chamundi Agarbathi
Kantilal Parmar, Founder, Chamundi Agarbathi
They say, small town people dream big with open eyes. Kantilal Parmar also had big dreams when his brother moved from Jalore, Rajasthan, to Bengaluru, Karnataka, to work with their father’s friend in an agarbatti trading firm.
My elder brother moved to Bengaluru with my uncle (father’s friend) to start working. I was studying at that time in Jalore. After completing my schooling, I also came down to help him. Though we were working, we had dreams of doing something big at some time,” Kantilal Parmar, 40, tells SMBStory.
Kantilal says his brother initially had rotogravure printing work. Later, in 2003, both the brothers branched out by trading in the raw materials used for agarbatti manufacturing.
In 2009, after deploying capital from personal savings and taking a loan against property, Kantilal started an agarbatti manufacturing unit in a 1,200 sq. ft space with Rs 15 lakh investment.
Kantilal says, “Though we had connections in the market, we had a tough time getting orders initially. We struggled for the entire first year, after which we started receiving good responses.
Gradually, the company started growing, and by 2012, it had grown to a 320-distributor network. Seeing the tremendous market response, Kantilal then decided to take a bold step and set up another manufacturing unit in an 8,000 sq. ft space. The company slowly grew, employing 50 workers and 20 sales representatives to market its products.
Kantilal registered Chamundi Agarbatti under the MSME scheme in 2012, and within three years of inception, the brand became one of the top manufacturers of agarbatti. Today, it clocks an annual turnover of Rs 20 crore.
Panchajanya Enterprises
Srinivas M, Founder, Panchajanya Enterprises
In 2002, Bengaluru-based entrepreneur Srinivas M saw a newspaper ad about the Ministry of MSME conducting a training session for chemical manufacturing. Srinivas was a chemical trader at the time and thought it would be a good opportunity to start manufacturing chemical products himself.
“I saw this as a way to enter the manufacturing sector that could pay me dividends much more than a trading business ever could. I decided to seize this opportunity, and enrolled myself in the programme,” he says.
So, after completing the training and attaining the required skills, Srinivas decided to set up his own chemical manufacturing unit. He invested Rs 5 lakh and started Panchajanya Enterprises in Bengaluru to manufacture liquid hand wash, liquid dish wash, toilet cleaning fluids, etc.
At present, Panchajanya has two manufacturing units, employs nearly 30 people, and is seeing a turnover of Rs 7.5 crore.
As the business saw success, in 2012, the company also advanced to manufacturing food supplements for animals.
However, he says, his firm cannot get along with the brand value global giants such as P&G and Reckitt Benckiser have already established. Srinivas attributes this as the reason why many established state-run enterprises don’t prefer Panchajanya's products.
Despite the lack of response from state-run units, Srinivas sees a huge potential in the sector and his spirit to success is unabated. He plans to achieve Rs 50 crore turnover in the next five years.
Mother Sparsh
Rishu Gandhi, Founder & Head Brand Strategist, Mother Sparsh
Rishu Gandhi was working with Infosys in 2015 when a lunch-time discussion with a colleague changed her life path. Twenty-nine-year-old Rishu’s career took a turn when a mother discussed that her child was developing rashes through wipes.
For the next year, Rishu thoroughly researched and analysed the baby products market and found a huge gap in the segment. She soon realised there was a dire need for baby care products that were eco-friendly and organic.
"I wanted to do eco-friendly products, but I did not have any clue on how to begin. My father was the first person I approached, and he supported me. I told some of my relatives about my plan and they introduced me to a third-party manufacturer. That was when my new journey began,” Rishu recalls.
In 2016, Rishu bootstrapped and launched Mother Sparsh brand in Mohali, Punjab, and put forth her first offering: one of India’s first eco-friendly, 98 percent water-based wipes that are biodegradable. The zero-polyester wipes claimed to offer the purest and most gentle care to babies.
She says, “A baby’s skin is delicate and sensitive, and doctors advise against using strong perfume and chemical-based products. Mother Sparsh’s water-based wipes are made of natural plant-based fabric, purified water, and are velvet-soft.”
Rishu planned to hit the retail segment soon after the launch of Mother Sparsh. However, she didn’t realise it would be a mammoth endeavour in a market where major brands like Himalaya, Johnson & Johnson, Chicco, and others were dominating.
She deployed around Rs 1 crore on marketing her products, and occupied shelf spaces in Gujarat and Rajasthan, but to no avail.
“I jumped into the retail industry with full confidence in my product, and that was the biggest blunder I made. I forgot that there were other dominating brands too who wouldn’t let me survive. I wasted almost Rs 1 crore and that was the biggest lesson I learned,” she says.
After suffering this huge loss, Rishu switched her marketing model and decided to try product sampling. The company provided free samples to target customers and educated them about their products. In the same year, Mother Sparsh was also recognised by market research source researchandmarkets.com as one of the first brands to launch water-based wipes; this rekindled the spirit of entrepreneurship in her.
Today, the company is selling products worth Rs 40-45 lakh per month through on-counter sales and through ecommerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, FirstCry, Paytm, and more. The company claims to be recording an annual turnover of Rs 3.5 crore.
