Starting with Rs 60,000 to building a Rs 100 Crore home décor brand, the incredible journey of an entrepreneur

 

Here is another proof that you don't need to invest millions of rupees to start a business. A simple idea can turn into a multicolored activity. Niraj John and his brother Pankaj John invested a few thousand rupees to buy samples of ceramic buttons in Khulna, a city in Uttar Pradesh known for its pottery, about 13 years ago.

“We bought these ceramic door handles from Khulna for Rs 1520 and realized they had huge potential to be used as cabinet and drawer pulls as they brighten up furniture,” says Niraj, whose father was into exporting furniture at that time. Period. "Around the same time in 2009, I started exporting ceramic knobs. We just needed a sample to get the order. Then we would place the orders to Khulna with prepayment.

The big break came about when they took the samples to the Ambient trade in Germany, sold them at a huge profit, and even pocketed orders to produce more of them." As our buttons were popular in the UK and neighboring countries, we went to Ambient in 2011 and brought our collection of handles there. The products sold out quickly. We went in 2012 and 2013 with similar products too.

“The reason for our success at Ambient is the fact that while door handles were available in the market as accessories, nobody made it as a main product, and so it captured the imagination of buyers. Brothers now own Casa Décor, a Noida-based home furnishing brand with a turnover of Rs 100 crore offering a wide range of handmade products, employing around 125 people and working with around 10,000 artisans located in Rajasthan and in Uttar Pradesh." Our products are economically priced. , starting at Rs 50,” says Niraj.

“Our products cost 3040,% less than others. A set of coasters available from us for Rs 300 sells for Rs 1,200 elsewhere. The brand sells over 5,000 products, including furniture, tableware, metal and wooden figurines, photo frames, globes and other decorative items. About 90% of their income comes from exports. “We are popular outside India; through distributors, we sell our products in 60,000 stores in Australia, Canada and several European countries,” says Niraj. In India, our largest distributor has 40 stores.

The success of Casa Décor has meant the creation of livelihoods for many artisan families in the country, who otherwise would have struggled to sell their products. Their main office is located in Kasna Industrial Zone in Noida, where the products are packed and shipped. They also have units in Delhi, Moradabad and some places in Rajasthan. Many women work in their units. The Noida unit alone employs about 400 female contract workers. 

“These women worked on construction sites and are happier now. Work from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and find a good environment to work. “These women also do the painting work by hand. Our handmade products are truly (80%) handmade,” says Niraj. Machinery is only used to a limited extent in the production of “handmade” products. Niraj was born in Ramgarh, a city ​​of Rajasthan, of Kamal and Suman Johri. His brother Pankaj Johri is two years older than him and is also his business partner and manager of Casa Decor.

"My father and his brothers started a furniture export business in 1985, when I was three years old. The activity continued for about 10 years. Then, in 1995, my father came to Delhi and started his furniture export business, but in a much smaller way,” says Niraj. Niraj studied at Cambridge School, Srinivaspuri, Delhi, up to year 12, then went to the UK for a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Greenwich, London. He completed his bachelor's degree in 2003, then took a one-year course in gemology at the Gemological Institute of America in California (200405). He returned to India and started a jewelry business in Delhi.

"It took a lot of investment, and we didn't have the funds to sustain the business," says Niraj, thinking back to her not too successful jewelry business. It was then that the idea of ​​ceramic buttons came to mind. Khurja, located about 85 km from Delhi in Uttar Pradesh, is a hub for ceramic products. He decided to get the buttons from there. “Sparkling Hues Gems Pvt Ltd was established in 2008, and we started selling these knobs. In 2016, we registered a Casa Decoro trademark for our products,” Niraj explains. In 2011, they made a turnover of Rs 1 crore and 10 years later they reached Rs 100 crore. "We took Rs 60,000 from our parents to buy samples," says Niraj.

“We started with five employees. Today we have 125. Daily and contract workers are also employed as needed. The business grew between 2013 and 2018 when it partnered with major buyers and leased three units for packaging materials in Noida. In 2016, they bought a property in Kasna Industrial Zone in Noida, where they set up their main unit on 3,000 sq.m.

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