I always had the urge to be an opportunity provider and create value addition for the society I live in. My inner beliefs made follow the principles of persistence and consistency with a pragmatic approach that becomes the fundamental ideology a person should exhibit to be an entrepreneur.

Your Name & Designation

Vignesh Rajamanickam, Founder.

Your Company name and Area of business 

Firm Name: Celebrations, Manufacturing

Your Website

www.homeutility.in

Industry of Business

Manufacturing and Etailing of home utility products like cloth drying stands, ironing boards, ladders, laundry bags, table mates, etc..

Where you are operating from?

We are a Coimbatore – Tamilnadu (India) based SME

How long you are in this business?

5 years.

What was the driving force for you to start your business?

I always had the urge to be an opportunity provider and create value addition for the society I live in. My inner beliefs made to follow the principles of persistence and consistency with a pragmatic approach that becomes the fundamental ideology a person should exhibit to be an entrepreneur. Moreover, I am a person who works with due diligence at all times which motivated me to become an entrepreneur.

Is the business running as successfully as you thought it would? Please comment.

I am a strong believer in the phrase  “making hay even when the sun fails to shine”, This inner belief makes me a strong contender to face adversity or any unexpected situations and convert occasional bottlenecks into rewarding opportunities to make my business a successful entity. I am hence satisfied with the level to which my business has grown now.

Who is your target audience?

According to me for an entrepreneur there should not be a restricted target market, there should be only an open market. This philosophy makes me position my brand and my product portfolios as not just a want but a desired necessity to the community. With this philosophy, the entire human race becomes our audience. This approach allowed me to devise a single strategic plan to deal with our population giving me an opportunity to serve more than already 75000 households currently in India.

What is the most challenging aspect of your business?

As an entrepreneur, there are various challenges in different dimensions to be encountered. Taking one at a time will simplify the way these challenges are sorted out.

• I hence started off with the basic challenge – Having a viable and performance-oriented team at our disposal.
• Followed by another challenge – having enough working capital to mitigate any current or future market upsets.
• The third challenge that I faced was a marketing entry.
• The fourth is currently e-commerce( making manufacturing and etailing work in tandem). This new challenge has given me a new facelift as being a manufacturer cum E-tailer(online business).

Challenges thus give me the energy to keep enriching and become stronger by the day.

If you are given a chance to start any business other than the one you are currently into, which one would it be and why?

It would be in the lines of career consulting(career profiling/ personality to profession mapping) which in India currently is at an infant stage. There are many fellow Indians who still have not realized their potential who need support and guidance from experienced and market exposed individuals. This is a huge market that is untapped.

Your Suggestion to the startup companies and entrepreneurs.

I would always suggest 2 fundamental concepts “Quality and Legitimacy” to start-up companies as following this made my organization grow in the last 5 years from a modest entry-level micro manufacturer to currently being fast-growing SME enterprise with strong brand equity in the space of home utility products in India(online and offline).

What is a success according to you?

Success has various interpretations. It cannot be measured in any mode. For me, it has been overtaking my previous benchmarks. This drives me further uphill to keep progressing.

Who/What is your greatest inspiration and why?

My dad for his inspiring words “ Never become a word victim at any time of the initial leg of the entrepreneur journey” as people just pull you down with their words. That’s when I started practicing and preaching the famous quote, “Advance confidently in the direction of your dreams, Success will be met even at unexpected hours’.

What is your leadership/management style?

According to me, a leader is a person who should not just lead from the front but at times follows from the back. This can be done only with empowerment and enrichment.

What is your leadership mantra?

My leadership mantra is “A leader’s presence should be felt in the organization even in his physical absence, such should be the deeds and qualities he needs to exhibit”.

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