I attended a webinar where I had a chance to listen to an entrepreneur who has helped many craftsmen and artisan and is the Chairman of a brand from where we all have purchased a traditional wear, it is none another then Mr. William Bissell, Chairman of Fabindia.
Currently, you might have noticed that Fabindia stores are open, the reason being they have a brand which sells essential commodities called Organic India. An investment made by the company which has paid them well during these unprecedented times.
Let me ask you a question, would you Invest in an Entrepreneur who has only passion or purpose or would you Invest in an Entrepreneur who has both?
The answer is definitely a person who has both. In this webinar, William Sir rightly said an Entrepreneur should have both Passion and Purpose. I have seen many entrepreneurs who are passionate about an idea but they do not know what is the problem they are solving and some people just enter an industry because they see initial profits in it but as an adverse situation comes up they do not have the passion to continue as now they no longer see those profits. Some entrepreneurs in the current startup ecosystem just have a thought that we will raise X amount in this round then, X amount in second round scale the business and sell it off, thus here the passion of continuing the business is not there though they might be really good at business.
If you see the current family run businesses in India the family members have a strong passion for the business and they know the purpose, why every day they are coming to the store, it is just not for the money but to also meet their customers needs. I have seen some great traditional and modern day entrepreneurs who start their day as early as 7:00AM and work till midnight and the next day when you meet them in office they have the same energy and enthusiasm and when you meet them and ask sir, why aren't you taking an off or why have you yet not increased your price etc? They will have an clear answer our aim is to meet our customers needs and we started this business on these principles and all our policies are based on it as well.
Thus, my tip to young entrepreneurs is be passionate about what you start and it should be something that you are comfortable doing at any hour of the day and always remember the reason why you started your enterprise. These two things will help you sail through tough times.
Here are some of my key takeaways from the Webinar:
Catch the train on the next station
During this lockdown, I have met two set of entrepreneurs one who complained that this lockdown has ruined our business, we do not have an digital infrastructure to run our business and second who realised that they need a digital infrastructure and wanted to upgrade. So the tip here is its never too late. My advice to entrepreneurs is try to map out what aspects of your business can be driven digitally and have some digital infrastructure which can help you save cost and run your business smoothly.
Community Based Retail
Here there are two sets of Communities I would like to recommend a retailer to form:
A) A strong buyer community, what do I mean with the buyer community,have a strong network with your manufactures and other people in the supply chain so that you are not dependent on one person for a product or service and if you see some business they have majority people from the same community doing that business,ever wondered why so? It gives them a strong buying power in front of Manufactures as they have the numbers. If you have a strong buyers network in a country like India which is so diverse, where consumer behavior changes every kilometre you will get updates about the trends and you might attract an invest opportunity.
B) A strong association with your customers, soon post Covid try to ensure that the locality where you have your store, you are able to build a rapport with the consumers in that area and focus on building a relationship and know their needs this will help you stock the products of their choice and increase profitability and reduce inventory turnover. A small tip for entrepreneurs try if you can collect personal details of the customer like phone number this will help you connect digitally with consumers.
Loyalty Programs
As mentioned by Sir in the webinar, after launching a brand loyalty program at Fabindia they are connected with over 4 million customers. In the coming times with digital technology it is going to be difficult for brands to retain the consumer as the consumer has multiple options, so a loyalty program for the consumer will motivate the consumer to come back to you and make a purchase.
Make Employees Your Stakeholders
ESOP has come into the corporate sphere at present but this concept existed since ages. If you see there are many people who started running a chain of stores and how do you think these people were able to manage so many stores? The idea here is make them co - owners in the venture by giving a % of the profits of the store. When they become co - owners in the business they will take more responsibility and think the business is their own.
Currently, you might have noticed that Fabindia stores are open, the reason being they have a brand which sells essential commodities called Organic India. An investment made by the company which has paid them well during these unprecedented times.
Let me ask you a question, would you Invest in an Entrepreneur who has only passion or purpose or would you Invest in an Entrepreneur who has both?
The answer is definitely a person who has both. In this webinar, William Sir rightly said an Entrepreneur should have both Passion and Purpose. I have seen many entrepreneurs who are passionate about an idea but they do not know what is the problem they are solving and some people just enter an industry because they see initial profits in it but as an adverse situation comes up they do not have the passion to continue as now they no longer see those profits. Some entrepreneurs in the current startup ecosystem just have a thought that we will raise X amount in this round then, X amount in second round scale the business and sell it off, thus here the passion of continuing the business is not there though they might be really good at business.
If you see the current family run businesses in India the family members have a strong passion for the business and they know the purpose, why every day they are coming to the store, it is just not for the money but to also meet their customers needs. I have seen some great traditional and modern day entrepreneurs who start their day as early as 7:00AM and work till midnight and the next day when you meet them in office they have the same energy and enthusiasm and when you meet them and ask sir, why aren't you taking an off or why have you yet not increased your price etc? They will have an clear answer our aim is to meet our customers needs and we started this business on these principles and all our policies are based on it as well.
Thus, my tip to young entrepreneurs is be passionate about what you start and it should be something that you are comfortable doing at any hour of the day and always remember the reason why you started your enterprise. These two things will help you sail through tough times.
Here are some of my key takeaways from the Webinar:
Catch the train on the next station
During this lockdown, I have met two set of entrepreneurs one who complained that this lockdown has ruined our business, we do not have an digital infrastructure to run our business and second who realised that they need a digital infrastructure and wanted to upgrade. So the tip here is its never too late. My advice to entrepreneurs is try to map out what aspects of your business can be driven digitally and have some digital infrastructure which can help you save cost and run your business smoothly.
Community Based Retail
Here there are two sets of Communities I would like to recommend a retailer to form:
A) A strong buyer community, what do I mean with the buyer community,have a strong network with your manufactures and other people in the supply chain so that you are not dependent on one person for a product or service and if you see some business they have majority people from the same community doing that business,ever wondered why so? It gives them a strong buying power in front of Manufactures as they have the numbers. If you have a strong buyers network in a country like India which is so diverse, where consumer behavior changes every kilometre you will get updates about the trends and you might attract an invest opportunity.
B) A strong association with your customers, soon post Covid try to ensure that the locality where you have your store, you are able to build a rapport with the consumers in that area and focus on building a relationship and know their needs this will help you stock the products of their choice and increase profitability and reduce inventory turnover. A small tip for entrepreneurs try if you can collect personal details of the customer like phone number this will help you connect digitally with consumers.
Loyalty Programs
As mentioned by Sir in the webinar, after launching a brand loyalty program at Fabindia they are connected with over 4 million customers. In the coming times with digital technology it is going to be difficult for brands to retain the consumer as the consumer has multiple options, so a loyalty program for the consumer will motivate the consumer to come back to you and make a purchase.
Make Employees Your Stakeholders
ESOP has come into the corporate sphere at present but this concept existed since ages. If you see there are many people who started running a chain of stores and how do you think these people were able to manage so many stores? The idea here is make them co - owners in the venture by giving a % of the profits of the store. When they become co - owners in the business they will take more responsibility and think the business is their own.
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