More than a decade ago, Mansi Gupta, a then 28-year-old woman with roots in a small Jammu town, took a bold decision along with her husband Ankit Wadhwa.?
In 2011, she decided to start an online store for selling Indian handcrafted products to a primarily American market.
After starting from a rented office in Delhi with ? 10 lakh and eight employees in 2013, her venture has grown into an over ? 19 crore turnover company which had about 80 employees till last year, as per TheWeekendLeader.
Her company Tijori¡¯s products now have a footprint in more than 190 countries.
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In 2001, after completing her schooling, Mansi wanted to attend Pune University, but she didn¡¯t receive immediate approval from her family.
¡°It was a tough decision for me because my parents had never stepped outside the state and they wanted me to continue my studies in Jammu. But I decided to move out and pursue my dream of studying business¡±, Mansi said as per a story in TheWeekendLeader.
¡°I always wanted to do something of my own and Jammu did not offer many opportunities. Thankfully, my grandmother supported my decision and stood beside me. Eventually, I got a nod from my parents.¡±
During her college years in Pune, Mansi took up a part-time job at ICICI Bank in 2002 and then in 2004, she became a full-time employee over there.
In 2007, her parents gave her a clear ultimatum to take up higher studies or get married. It was then that she preferred to study and enrolled for a one-year MBA at Cardiff University.
Returning back to India in 2008, she joined IBM India in Gurguram and in 2009, got married to Ankit Wadhwa, who was working in a multinational company in Delhi.
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A year later, Mansi went to Pennsylvania with her husband, who wanted to do a two-year MBA course. There, she too enrolled herself in Wharton Programme for Working Professionals, a one-year course, in 2011.
It was during her stay in Philadelphia, a city in Pennsylvania, that she learned about the huge market for Indian handcrafted items in the US.
After sensing a business opportunity, she chose the brand name Tjori and registered the company, AM Webshop India Pvt. Ltd, in 2011 when the couple visited India for a vacation.
After returning to India in September 2012, the couple took up an office at Saket in Delhi in October for a monthly rental of ?20,000 after Mansi resigned from her job in IBM.?
And then there was no stopping.
Mansi connected with artisans from many parts of the country and partnered with 50 artisans.
From the first sale of $250 in January 2013 to ? 10 crore turnover in 2018, the business kept on growing. And as per TheWeekendLeader, the company had a turnover of over ? 19 crores last year, in 2021.
Now, her online store, Tjori possesses a diverse portfolio that includes apparel, wellness, footwear, and jewellery products for both the domestic and foreign market.
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