Every second Saturday becomes an illuminating day for aspiring entrepreneurs in Bangalore as they throng to take back some inspiration with them from Headstart’s Startup Saturday Event. What was so special on May 2014 edition of Startup Saturday Event in Bangalore?
Journey of an Entrepreneur – Vishwas Mudugal
An inspiring story from the best-selling author, Vishwas Mudugal, who wrote a novel,which is bound to get you addicted and stay with you forever – “Losing My Religion”.Vishwas Mudugal shared his story of how he started his entrepreneurial journey and how his life had a downturn where he questioned his belief. He quit his job in 2007. After being hit with a bankruptcy, how his hope had bloomed like a flower when that call came from a Canadian Company, asking him to join there as a CEO, which changed his belief system.
Vishwas said, “Failure is a big teacher. If you don’t fail you will never learn.”
In the year 2009, he was struck with an idea to write about on entrepreneurship. That’s how “Losing My Religion” was bloomed and launched in the month of February 2014. It is a story of Rishi Rai, a fallen gaming entrepreneur, and two other characters from different walks of life, coming together for a journey that changes their lives forever. He ended his speech by saying “Follow your passion and the world will follow yours.”
Yoga as lifestyle fashion – Manish Pole
The next story was from Manish Pole, the founder of Total Yoga. He started his career as an advertising copywriter. But things changed after he embarked on a trekking to Himalayas where he saw an yogi, flashing a blissful smile. He started introspecting that there should be something to add more value to life. That’s how he started his first Yoga school in Pune in the year 2010. In 2012, Total Yoga was launched in Bangalore, which is the headquarters of Total Yoga.
Yoga is not about doing asana on the yoga mat but it goes much deeper in the human mind. His insightful thoughts on Yoga did throw some light to all the participants to understand how important it is for a human mind to relax, alleviating stress from a mundane life.
The session followed with networking where participants got a chance to network with like-minded people.
Pitch by Srijata, Founder of EthnicShack
The first pitch was from Sreejata who is running her startup company called Ethnic Shack. By connecting with grass root artisans, Ethnic Shack sells handmade, hand woven and hand crafted products.
Chapters from the book of a fashion entrepreneur by Namrata Shah, Founder of 2up 2down
Namrata started her venture of making distinctive handlooms in 2008 with just two ladies and now it has grown with 14 ladies. Namrata Shah is able to produce beautiful products with quality and consistency. She faced a huge loss in the first year because there was a lack of infrastructure and support group to help. Her mantra of advertising her products is through the word of mouth, connecting with the right audience. She was awarded as the “Young Creative Entrepreneur Award 2010”, India – British Council. She keeps innovating so that her customers are totally engaged. The vision of 2up 2down is to create unique hand-crafted textiles with consistent quality.
Story behind the innovative fashion & lifestyle brand – Arpita Ganesh, Founder of Buttercups
Arpita who is the founder of the most innovative lingerie boutiques shared her story how her passion started to bring better bras to India, offering women a life-changing experience. She is well known as the “Indian Bra Lady” in the international circles.
She gets inspiration from a powerful quotation of Steve Jobs- Quality, Service and Innovation. She said, “Researching, Reaching out and Learning are the three elements that are needed to start a venture. There is nothing wrong in taking inspiration from successful and phenomenal people. Never dream small, dream big.”
The biggest challenge that she faced was funding. She is into crowd sourcing model as it gives entrepreneurs a huge advantage to talk to the investors. Arpita has launched an app, ABTF to help women find their right size in brands available in India.
Panel Discussion
The power-packed panel discussion with the women entrepreneurs sharing their views on the questions moderated by Niti Shree brought a new level of perspective of understanding on the trends of fashion and lifestyle. The esteemed panelists were Babita Jaishankar, CEO of WSol Fashion & Image Makeovers Pvt. Ltd., Arpita Ganesh, Founder of Buttercups and Namrata Shah, Founder of 2up 2down.
Some of the key points that need to be considered if you are an aspiring entrepreneur:
- Do research on the market that you are going to target
- Taking a course in lifestyle and fashion will be a plus
- Be honest and committed
- Follow a successful business model to gain an insight
What are the challenges that are involved in starting up your own business venture in fashion and lifestyle sector?
- Funding
- Mentoring
- Scalability
- Sustainability
There is always something to learn from every entrepreneur who steps into the Startup Saturday Event in Bangalore because they inspire others to become entrepreneurs.
So, what takes one to be an entrepreneur?
“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. – Albert Einstein”
All it takes your passion in doing what you love to do with all your heart, mind and soul to become an entrepreneur.
Reported by
Mary Abraham
Headstarter Bangalore