The story of new generation building Koskii and other top picks of the week
This week SMBStory released the second episode of the GenNext series, bringing the story of Koskii, an ethnic womenswear brand, along with Trezix that is streamlining the import-export process for MSMEs, and other stories.
This week SMBStory released the second episode of the GenNEXT series, which focuses on the next generation of entrepreneurs disrupting traditional business models. The latest episode features Umar Akhter and his family's journey in establishing , a successful ethnic womenswear brand.
The episode highlights the challenges they faced and the strategies they employed to grow their business.
Koskii
Umar Akhter, CEO and Co-founder of Koskii, a popular women's ethnic wear brand based in Bengaluru, began his entrepreneurial journey at a tender age of 16, working alongside his father in their retail business. Speaking to SMBStory, Akhter recounted how he overcame a substantial financial setback in the wholesale saree industry by pivoting to a retail store in Kolar, which eventually led to the creation of the brand Koskii.
Today, Koskii boasts an annual run rate of Rs 100 crore and has expanded its presence across major Indian cities such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore and Delhi. What sets Koskii apart in the women's ethnic wear space is its bootstrap approach to growth, carving out a prominent niche for itself in the industry.
Other top picks of the week:
Trezix
While working with ERP (enterprise resource planning) software companies, Haresh Calcuttawala, Sunil Kharbanda, and Shailesh Sapale discovered many issues that frequently afflicted companies involved in the export-import business.
“After identifying a few common problems, we realised there was no one-stop solution to make the import-export process more efficient,” says Kharbanda.
“ERP solutions are more structured and serve the internal requirements of an organisation, whereas 75% of the stakeholders in the import-export process are external to the organisation,” he adds.
This sparked a discussion among the trio about how the process could be managed more efficiently within an organisation. Although they recognised these issues in large enterprises, they soon realised that these were much bigger issues in micro, small, and medium enterprises.
To simplify and automate the import-export processes, they established in January 2022. The Surat-based SaaS (software as a service) company launched its products in the market in November 2022.
InsuranceDekho
, a Gurugram-based insurtech company, has acquired Verak, a Mumbai-based SME insurance distribution startup. The move will bolster the former's presence in the rapidly growing market and the SME insurance vertical.
In a LinkedIn post, InsuranceDekho Founder and CEO Ankit Agrawal hailed Verak's solid foundation and its successful venture into the untapped micro-business insurance scheme, which has resulted in a 30% month-on-month premium growth.
InsuranceDekho, which provides a platform for consumers to compare and purchase insurance policies across multiple categories, including health, bike, car, life, term, pet, and travel insurance, will now expand its portfolio in the SME insurance space.
Edited by Swetha Kannan