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Name: Neha Mittal
Business: Shivinno Industries
Location: New Delhi, India
Industry: Consumer Goods
Reason for starting? Since I was a child and could barely pronounce the term, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I have always had a drive to change the world around me for the better and make a difference. After I finished my Msc from the London School of Economics, I just knew I had to return home to start making a change and start something of my own. With a great deal of support, I returned to my roots and started Shivinno Industries from a small town in East India, Dhanbad. I’ve been extremely passionate about manufacturing and chose to establish my work in electrical lighting, as India faces a huge gap in supply electricity to houses. By providing electrical equipment in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India (my main target market) at affordable prices and high quality, I’ve taken it upon myself to bring light to each and every rural household in India and create job opportunities in East India, a place with the highest level of economic inequality.
Related: Read about another entrepreneur working in India here.
How do you define success? Success is an ongoing journey that never ends. But you know you’re on the right path when you feel at peace with life and your work, when your only competition is being a better version of yourself than what you were yesterday, and when you want to make a difference and improve lives. My ultimate goal for the business is to turn it into a Fortune 500 company, that’s the ultimate goal. Regardless to say, that will be achievable, if we continue to make useful products that the consumers will love.
Biggest success: My biggest success to date would be to provide employment to the 40 workers in my company and build my company like a family. Each and every worker in Shivinno works with a sense of pride and ownership, and that’s a culture I’ve built over the years with care.
What is your top challenge and how you have addressed it? There comes a point in every business where the way forward is the way upward. Any growth trajectory will require increased funds, and my company was no exception. There was a point when we at Shivinno had reached our saturation and needed more funds to survive. Having put maximum equity from our own pockets, we had to look for lenders from outside. Since the company was new, it was extremely difficult for us to arrange for funds. Most banks and investors were extremely apprehensive, and it took us almost a year to get the funds on time. That time was hard but strategic planning and real results helped us sail through. My product was doing well and people were buying a lot of it, thus helping us turn the company profitable within 6 months, and that helped us arrange for funds on time.
Related: For this CEO, Volunteerism Is as Important as Her Work
Who is your most important role model? Without a doubt my parents. My father for teaching me how to dream and not just dream but dream larger-than-life and my mother for being my absolute rock. They taught me how important it is to have character and wings to succeed.
[box_light]Website www.shivinnoindustries.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/shivinnoindustries[/box_light]
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Edited by The Story Exchange