Category Archives: Success Stories

I joined my family business Shree Shakti Enterprises after completing my MBA from Amity University a decade ago. We have been bulk traders of steel utensils since 1956 and have also been supplying kitchenware to Walmart Best Price for the last nine years.

Every ending paves the way for a new beginning

Over these years, my father has been my biggest mentor. He too has overcome several challenges, but nothing like the impact that the COVID-19 crisis has had on our business.

As India went into a nationwide lockdown in March, four of our manufacturing units in Sonipat, Haryana had to be shut down. With demand for our kitchenware falling drastically, I got very worried about my workforce and how I would support them in this challenging time.

I remembered I had seen a hand wash station that doctors use in hospitals and I thought we could tweak the model to make it work through a foot pedal instead of our hands. Convincing my father wasn’t an easy task – he discouraged from going to the factory due to the COVID-19 scare. But I still went to my factory and stayed there for a few days and built the first prototype which was set up near our residential colony.

With constant innovation, my business started gaining traction

As people started giving good feedback, my father came on board. There has been no looking back since then!

I also sent a prototype to Walmart India. With the help of their feedback on technical feasibility and commercial viability, I was able to fine tune the product. Thanks to their suggestion, I have also built a sensor based sanitizer dispenser. In fact, I have built an automatic foot sanitizer too.

For the hand wash station, I have crossed 1,100 orders and these have been set up in various government offices as well and also several private sector companies in the automobile sector. This has led to up to Rs 1.5 crore in sales during the lockdown. I also have orders worth another Rs 2.5 crore.

I am also on board the Walmart Vriddhi supplier development program and I feel this will help my business achieve even greater heights. It will be helpful to learn the best business practices to scale the MSME ecosystem and spread our wings.

I realised Scraft was in a position to redirect its trajectory to satisfy the increased demand for hand sanitizers and disinfectants in the country after noting that a demand shift had occurred in the early days of the viral pandemic.

I feel blessed to have been able to fulfill my dream. But my journey as a businesswoman has not been an easy one. What bothered me the most was no one ever took me seriously. People would often ask to speak with someone “senior” during meetings or when they wanted to strike a deal. But one needs to take such things in their stride in the business world. So, I disregarded the stereotypes and am proud to have made tremendous progress over the years. I am happy to have reached a turnover of Rs 50 crore last year.

However, just as I was getting to enjoy this latest milestone, the COVID-19 pandemic hit India. With a strict nationwide lockdown in place, orders for my usual range of products dropped drastically in March. My factory in Sonipat, Haryana which was operating to full capacity up until then, had to abruptly stop production

To be honest, I wasn’t prepared for this kind of a sudden uncertainty, especially since I had a good run last year. At that moment, I was worried about safeguarding the livelihoods of my hardworking employees. On a personal front, I didn’t want to let this affect me, as I was expecting my first child at the time.

It was time to take a critical and quick decision

Keeping all worries aside, I decided to give the business one more shot, before calling it quits by the end of the lockdown.

Noting that a demand transition had begun in the early days of the virus outbreak, I realised Scraft was in a position to redirect its course to meet the growing demand for hand sanitizers and disinfectants in the country. Thankfully, just a day before the first lockdown was announced, I had managed to get the samples ready for hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes as per COVID-19 product specifications

Without further ado, I started reaching out to corporates and retailers with my new products. We are currently operating with 50 workers with demand picking up slowly and a steady pace of orders in the last two months. Having observed the scale of global demand, I am planning to soon export our products to some of the US markets as well.

The transition was aided by a lot of guidance

Expert guidance is important during uncertain times. Especially when there are challenges while securing raw materials, work passes, licenses and a disruption in supply chain.

Walmart’s Vriddhi program has been that guiding light for many MSME owners like me. As a wholesale supplier for the company, I had the good fortune of signing up with the program, which was launched late last year, to train and prepare us to participate in the domestic and global supply chains.

During this difficult time, Walmart has stayed close to its suppliers through the program and helped us navigate through the impact and resume businesses by sharing useful information and guidance. Walmart has given us the access to a network of peers and mentors where we are able to share insights and reach out for help in real time.

Walmart’s platform support coupled with the fact that I am able to support in the supply of essentials during a crisis and provide livelihoods to my workers, are the two things that didn’t let me give up on my dream.

I had to suddenly halt manufacturing at my factory in Sonipat, Haryana, something I was never prepared for. For three days, I was very depressed. But on the fourth day, I got up and decided that this crisis cannot stop me or my spirit.

In the times of adversity, I looked for an opportunity

While the sudden turn of events saw demand drop from customers, and this did hit business and supply chains of MSMEs like mine, I thought that this would also be an opportunity to create new products that the country needs in this challenging time.

I did some research and spoke to a few Walmart officials and decided that I will begin production of face masks and personal protective equipment (PPEs) to tap into the growing demand.

So, after the government’s directive to restart businesses, I resumed operations at my factory in Sonipat to manufacture cotton reusable masks at an affordable price.

Walmart, through the Vriddhi programme, has helped me understand what all possible options can be explored during this crisis. It is important for a supplier like me to not stop or give up, even during a pandemic, and Vriddhi has helped me push the pedal here. Even mentorship and advice on financial schemes, and government programs, has helped me navigate through the impact of COVID-19.

I have a personal story to share. When I was falling short of elastic, an important raw material needed in the production of face masks, thanks to the Walmart Vriddhi network, I was immediately able to connect with one of my peers on the platform and secure a bulk consignment of elastics. This is the program’s uniqueness, it provides MSMEs like mine an access to a network and ecosystem of peers and mentors in the local communities, where we can connect with each other to share knowledge in real time.

Before long, things turned around

I am on the moon because my efforts have been rewarded, and as a supplier with Walmart Best Price, I recently secured my first order of 80,000 masks from the company. I am also planning to export coordinated printed cotton masks to markets like Italy and the UK, where these are very popular and in demand.

I was introduced to the Vriddhi program when it was launched in December 2019 for training MSMEs to become part of domestic and global supply chains. The program is simple, easy to understand, and interactive, and is currently helping MSMEs to operate in the new realities.

I believe that a business must contribute to society in every way possible. I have decided to begin work on a travel safety kit called ‘Surakshitam’ which will have the basic safety and hygiene products like masks, napkins, sanitizer, soap, etc.

I also want to share my learnings with other MSMEs and I am very excited to become one of the MSME mentors in the Vriddhi programme. Sharing my experience and connecting with my peers and other small businesses will help the ecosystem grow during these challenging times.