In its fresh episode, when Shark Tank India Season 3 opened its massive doorways, it welcomed a tender entrepreneur Ankush Barjata, who used to be draped in — look ahead to 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 massive saree business and attach shoppers at once to producers.
What left the sharks amazed used to be the truth that on the age of 23, he had established a Rs 5 crore corporate — all whilst figuring out of a small village in Himachal Pradesh referred to as Bangana.
Together with his paintings, he used to be ready to onboard 3 ‘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 6 % fairness along side a debt of Rs 1.25 crore at 10 % pastime for 3 years.
“Coming from a small village with restricted assets, the adventure to Shark Tank used to be dream for me. After our episode used to be aired, we were given an awesome reaction from shoppers. Our telephones have no longer stopped ringing since then,” Ankush tells The Higher India.
‘My grandpa offered garments door-to-door, my mom wore threads for bangles’
Born and raised in Bangana village, Ankush had a harsh youth. His circle of relatives of 12 would reside in a makeshift tin construction ahead of shifting to a 2BHK house. To maintain this massive circle of relatives, his grandfather would peddle garments door to door.
“He used to be a feri wala promoting salwar kameez in villages. We had a small tea store in our house. We handiest survived on one meal an afternoon. Our state of affairs used to be so abysmal that my mom would wrap threads on her wrists. We didn’t come up with the money for to shop for her bangles. In 2004, my mom began taking sewing categories and promoting fits,” he says, “Through 2011, our state of affairs stepped forward when my father joined the trade after quitting his retail outlet process.”
Ankush says his good fortune is rooted in his circle of relatives’s clothes legacy. “My circle of relatives’s state of affairs has no longer handiest taught me to be humble and down to earth but in addition about working a trade. Our on a regular basis dialog can be on gross sales and trade,” he provides.
On the other hand, Ankush — a pc science graduate via schooling — took up a gross sales and advertising process in a Hyderabad-based corporate. “As a part of this paintings, I met a saree producer who used to be counting earnings after promoting 100 sarees for Rs 300 every. After talking with him, I understood that whilst producers make a saree for Rs 300, they’re offered for Rs 1,000 in the similar nation,” he informs.
Later, when Ankush determined to start out his personal saree trade, he says he used a easy Google seek to discover a saree map of India that showcased the types of sarees worn statewide. In accordance with the ones classes, he discovered contacts of producers and ready a database.
“The usage of that listing, I began attaining out to them. For approximately a month, I frequently travelled to no less than seven towns together with Hyderabad, Agra, Mathura, Vrindavan, Surat, Kanchipuram, Chennai, and Kolkata,” he says.
This excursion used to be an eye-opener for Ankush as he noticed issues confronted via the producers as smartly. “From weavers, producers, vendors, wholesalers, shops, and in spite of everything to shoppers — there isn’t one however many middlemen within the saree business. Producers take care of vendors and paintings on credit score for one month. That implies they are going to get bills after this era,” he informs.
“I aimed to deal with those demanding situations with my startup. My answer? As soon as orders get started rolling in, we decide to paying producers promptly. My thought used to be that via choosing instant fee as an alternative of credit score, they might revel in a gradual day by day source of revenue,” he provides.
After figuring out the nitty gritty of the saree business, Ankush in spite of everything give up his high-paying process in 2021 and introduced 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 enhance from his father. A lot in opposition to his hopes, he skilled excessive losses. Amid societal force, he moved to Chennai — the place he pursued his upper schooling — to flee the placement.
“We all know every different in a village. When villagers noticed me fight for my startup, they began throwing tantrums at my determination to give up a high-paying town process to run a saree store. My circle of relatives additionally saved asking me about my day by day development. I had no solutions to them,” he says.
Shifting to Chennai used to be a difficult bankruptcy of his lifestyles. “I used to be surviving on loans from buddies. I used to be dwelling in a small room on hire and survived on one meal an afternoon to economize. There have been days after I sought after to give up; I sought after to cry and return house,” he recollects.
However Ankush remembered all of the guarantees of a luxurious lifestyles that he made to his folks. “I needed to in finding tactics,” he says.
But even so a cellular app, Ankush designed a web page for Deeva and indexed probably the most purchasing classes at the homepage. “Through this time, I had understood that my shoppers had been office-going girls within the age workforce of 25 to 45 years who sought after to put on excellent high quality sarees every day via making an investment Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500. I began sourcing extra such sarees from producers and marketed them at the homepage for simple seek,” he provides.
To spice up gross sales, Ankush additionally outsourced to a virtual advertising corporate that helped promote it the sarees. “Quickly after, I began getting gross sales thru social media. I were given my first spice up in April-Might 2022 after I made gross sales of Rs 15,000 in at some point. This used to be after I determined to return again to Himachal,” he says.
After he returned to his village, there was no taking a look again. As of late, he has established a multi-crore corporate founded out of Bangana that sells sarees around the nation in 50 classes — together with Patola, Kanjivaram, Chanderi, Banarasi silk, and Chiffon sarees.
Ankush has established a core group of 30 other folks from his village. He has partnered with no less than 500 producers around the nation. This partnership has been a win-win for Ankush in addition to small producers who’ve noticed a spice up of no less than 5 instances of their source of revenue.
One among his producers, Himanshu Jain, who has been related to Ankush for the previous yr and a part tells The Higher India, “Previous, we needed to paintings on credit score with offline vendors. This intended that we’d get bills handiest after 30 to 45 days. They’d additionally purchase sarees in bulk and there used to be no surety if all sarees can be offered.”
“So, they’d go back to us after a month or so and unload all of the unsold sarees. The onus to promote those would fall on us. However with Deeva, we get orders handiest after the shopper has positioned an order, and we get bills in 7 to ten days. Right here, my source of revenue has additionally greater via 25 %,” he provides.
In the meantime, to make Deeva a large emblem, Ankush sought after to look on Shark Tank India. Even if he may no longer make it to season 2, he made an enduring affect at the ‘sharks’ in season 3. The have an effect on of the episode used to be so monumental that he noticed a spice up of six instances in his trade, he informs.
Rooted in his village, Ankush now goals to make a trade of Rs 150 crore, input into export in no less than 10 international locations, and open offline retail outlets within the subsequent yr.
“I don’t really feel I’ve accomplished very large. It used to be thru my grandfather’s efforts that we began getting foods 3 times an afternoon. My folks labored onerous in order that shall we put on respectable garments. I simply need to give no matter perfect lifestyles I will be able to to my folks,” he says.
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“Not too long ago, I proficient a seven-seater automotive to my father. Lately, we’re construction our dream space with a helipad and rooftop swimming pool in Himachal,” he provides, “Despite the fact that those are materialistic issues, having a bada ghar, badi gaadi (large space, large automotive) are goals of a lower-middle source of revenue circle of relatives. In 8 months, I can transfer to our new house with my circle of relatives.”
Edited via Pranita Bhat. All footage: Ankush Barjata.