Radhika Sunkle - You Are Your Own Boss

I was always fascinated by colours and textures, so nothing better than a clothing line to start with. Of course, a lot of experimentation in personal clothing has always been a part of a hobby.

1. Tell us more about your company and your journey.

Started our clothing label in 2018 June and since then it's been an amazing experience. RUISA stands for Rui-Jaisa that means lightweight and comfortable clothing, we create stitched and unstitched merchandise. We are basically known as RUISA Kantha and handloom store located in Pune.

Our focus is to give a modern touch to age-old traditions like Kantha, bagru, hand block printing shibori work etc. Our merchandise includes handloom silk sarees, mulberry silk sarees, Kota silk and jamdani dupattas, shibori work sarees and stoles, fusion cotton wear, running fabrics, cushion covers, Kantha blouse pieces etc.

Before all this, I belonged to the corporate training field and knew nothing of this industry or how to set up a business and no one in from the family ever got into the business either.

I did quit my corporate job in 2015, and then my R&D started, did attend a few workshops, read a no. of books on Management, did a tailoring course, tried to understand the finance & accounting side of it, a lot of virtual learning before RUISA was born.

2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?

I was always fascinated by colours and textures, so nothing better than a clothing line to start with. Of course, a lot of experimentation in personal clothing has always been a part of a hobby.

So I quit the job with an idea to start a business of my own. A rough plan was in place. After a rigorous amount of learning, took the first step and found a suitable name and got it registered.

After that Social media was one of the first platforms to launch our collection on, and from that initial stage to today we are doing exports and working with Jaypore, Itokri, Gaatha, Styletriggers and few other platforms in the pipeline.

3. What has been your biggest challenge that you faced, and how did you overcome that?

The biggest challenge was funding. To overcome that we did use our savings and then asked our family to loan the initial amount with the conditions to repay the same.

4. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?

I would say hard work, positive attitude, persistence and self-discipline.

5. What are some of the most important factors for running a successful business?

Persist in what you have chosen, don't give up and believe in yourself and your plan of action. Have a clear sense of direction. Be economical in the initial phase, think 5 times before stocking up products and overspending.

Follow a disciplined work routine as you are answerable to yourself at the end of the day, as you are your own boss.

6. What are your tips for the first time and aspiring entrepreneurs?

Plan well and be ready and be flexible to make changes to the same, As when you run a business, few things won't be concrete. Choose the industry that you love the most and won't feel like taking a day off.

7. How can one overcome a hurdle of lack of funds when starting up?

The first option could be your savings and a family loan. Other than that even the banks are supporting and encouraging startups these days, it's always good to visit the bank websites to understand better.

If you wish to get into import-export and few other businesses which have govt affiliation you can benefit from a lot of different policies that govt offers for the new businesses.