In its latest episode, when Shark Tank India Season 3 opened its giant doorways, it welcomed a younger entrepreneur Ankush Barjata, who was draped in — await it — a saree!
Ankush is the founding father of an internet saree platform ‘Deeva’. He began the corporate with a easy thought — to get rid of the center chain within the giant saree business and join clients on to producers.
What left the sharks amazed was the truth that on the age of 23, he had established a Rs 5 crore firm — all whereas figuring out of a small village in Himachal Pradesh referred to as Bangana.
Together with his work, he was capable of onboard three ‘sharks’ — boAt founder Aman Gupta, CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund Radhika Gupta, and OYO Rooms founder Ritesh Agarwal. He bagged a deal of Rs 2 crore — Rs 75 lakh for six % fairness together with a debt of Rs 1.25 crore at 10 % curiosity for 3 years.
“Coming from a small village with restricted sources, the journey to Shark Tank was a distant dream for me. After our episode was aired, we bought an awesome response from clients. Our telephones haven’t stopped ringing since then,” Ankush tells The Higher India.
‘My grandpa bought garments door-to-door, my mom wore threads for bangles’
Born and raised in Bangana village, Ankush had a harsh childhood. His household of 12 would stay in a makeshift tin construction earlier than transferring to a 2BHK dwelling. To maintain this massive household, his grandfather would peddle garments door to door.
“He was a feri wala promoting salwar kameez in villages. We had a small tea store in our dwelling. We solely survived on one meal a day. Our scenario was so abysmal that my mom would wrap threads on her wrists. We didn’t have the funds for to purchase her bangles. In 2004, my mom began taking stitching courses and promoting fits,” he says, “By 2011, our scenario improved when my father joined the enterprise after quitting his retail outlet job.”
Ankush says his success is rooted in his household’s clothes legacy. “My household’s scenario has not solely taught me to be humble and grounded but in addition about operating a enterprise. Our on a regular basis dialog can be on gross sales and enterprise,” he provides.
Nonetheless, Ankush — a pc science graduate by training — took up a gross sales and advertising and marketing job in a Hyderabad-based firm. “As a part of this work, I met a saree producer who was counting earnings after promoting 100 sarees for Rs 300 every. After talking with him, I understood that whereas producers make a saree for Rs 300, they’re bought for Rs 1,000 in the identical nation,” he informs.
Later, when Ankush determined to start out his personal saree enterprise, he says he used a easy Google search to discover a saree map of India that showcased the sorts of sarees worn statewide. Primarily based on these classes, he discovered contacts of producers and ready a database.
“Utilizing that record, I began reaching out to them. For a couple of month, I repeatedly travelled to a minimum of seven cities together with Hyderabad, Agra, Mathura, Vrindavan, Surat, Kanchipuram, Chennai, and Kolkata,” he says.
This tour was an eye-opener for Ankush as he noticed issues confronted by the producers as nicely. “From weavers, producers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and at last to clients — there may be not one however many middlemen within the saree business. Producers cope with distributors and work on credit score for one month. Which means they’ll get funds after this era,” he informs.
“I aimed to deal with these challenges with my startup. My resolution? As soon as orders begin rolling in, we decide to paying producers promptly. My thought was that by choosing quick cost as a substitute of credit score, they might take pleasure in a gradual day by day earnings,” he provides.
After understanding the nitty gritty of the saree business, Ankush lastly give up his high-paying job in 2021 and launched Deeva.
From a small village to Shark Tank
To begin Deeva, Ankush exhausted all his financial savings of Rs 3.5 lakh and an extra Rs 3 lakh monetary assist from his father. A lot towards his hopes, he skilled excessive losses. Amid societal stress, he moved to Chennai — the place he pursued his larger training — to flee the scenario.
“Everybody is aware of one another in a village. When villagers noticed me battle for my startup, they began throwing tantrums at my determination to give up a high-paying metropolis job to run a saree store. My household additionally saved asking me about my day by day progress. I had no solutions to them,” he says.
Shifting to Chennai was a difficult chapter of his life. “I used to be surviving on loans from pals. I used to be residing in a small room on lease and survived on one meal a day to save cash. There have been days once I wished to give up; I wished to cry and return dwelling,” he remembers.
However Ankush remembered all the guarantees of an opulent life that he made to his mother and father. “I needed to discover methods,” he says.
Apart from a cell app, Ankush designed a web site for Deeva and listed probably the most shopping for classes on the homepage. “By this time, I had understood that my clients have been office-going girls within the age group of 25 to 45 years who wished to put on good high quality sarees each day by investing Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500. I began sourcing extra such sarees from producers and marketed them on the homepage for simple search,” he provides.
To spice up gross sales, Ankush additionally outsourced to a digital advertising and marketing firm that helped promote the sarees. “Quickly after, I began getting gross sales via social media. I bought my first increase in April-Could 2022 once I made gross sales of Rs 15,000 in at some point. This was once I determined to come back again to Himachal,” he says.
After he returned to his village, there was no wanting again. At the moment, he has established a multi-crore firm primarily based out of Bangana that sells sarees throughout the nation in 50 classes — together with Patola, Kanjivaram, Chanderi, Banarasi silk, and Chiffon sarees.
Ankush has established a core group of 30 individuals from his village. He has partnered with a minimum of 500 producers throughout the nation. This partnership has been a win-win for Ankush in addition to small producers who’ve noticed a lift of a minimum of 5 occasions of their earnings.
One among his producers, Himanshu Jain, who has been related to Ankush for the previous yr and a half tells The Higher India, “Earlier, we needed to work on credit score with offline distributors. This meant that we’d get funds solely after 30 to 45 days. They might additionally purchase sarees in bulk and there was no surety if all sarees can be bought.”
“So, they might return to us after a month or so and dump all of the unsold sarees. The onus to promote these would fall on us. However with Deeva, we get orders solely after the patron has positioned an order, and we get funds in 7 to 10 days. Right here, my earnings has additionally elevated by 25 %,” he provides.
In the meantime, to make Deeva an enormous model, Ankush wished to seem on Shark Tank India. Regardless that he couldn’t make it to season 2, he made an enduring impression on the ‘sharks’ in season 3. The affect of the episode was so monumental that he noticed a lift of six occasions in his enterprise, he informs.
Rooted in his village, Ankush now goals to make a enterprise of Rs 150 crore, enter into export in a minimum of 10 international locations, and open offline shops within the subsequent yr.
“I don’t really feel I’ve achieved very massive. It was via my grandfather’s efforts that we began getting meals 3 times a day. My mother and father labored arduous in order that we might put on first rate garments. I simply need to give no matter finest life I can to my mother and father,” he says.
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“Lately, I gifted a seven-seater automobile to my father. At the moment, we’re constructing our dream home with a helipad and rooftop swimming pool in Himachal,” he provides, “Though these are materialistic issues, having a bada ghar, badi gaadi (massive home, massive automobile) are goals of a lower-middle earnings household. In eight months, I’ll transfer to our new dwelling with my household.”
Edited by Pranita Bhat. All images: Ankush Barjata.
