WHAT IS YAMINI’S FUTURE? After setting up a shop and a warehouse in Bangalore, Yamini moved into Calcutta, Pune, Vadodara, Mumbai and Madras.
“Expansion is the name of the game,” says Sherree, “and we’re looking at markets like Delhi, Jaipur and Hyderabad. We’ll survive in new markets because we’re different from our competitors; we’re contemporary, and use traditional forms in modern, urban settings."
"For instance, we’ve just ordered a range of towels on the lines of the absorbent ‘gamcha’ but in a variety of vibrant colours. We also plan to explore the possibilities of working with natural fibres such as water hyacinth and banana fibre in the future".
“We’re not looking at holding a boutique position; rather, we’d like to be known as a happy place for innovation, a place where people like us would like to shop, and where no crazy prices hit us.”
Sherree’s dream is to make Yamini “accessible to a varied clientele - be it a young child or a young couple. I don’t want it to be inti-midating or for it to go the celebrity way.”
CHANT THESE TIPS LOOKING BEYOND Be open to the world around you. Look beyond your nose and beyond today. Someone you meet today may turn out to be that new person you need to take on in the next quarter - the suggestions of a new colour palette may jump out at you from a Sunday supplement!
MAKE A DIFFERENCE I think this as the key guiding principle in my life and it applies very simply to business. Making a difference can mean anything - like updating a traditional design through the use of a contemporary colour interpretation, or setting up a system where there was none, or taking the time to teach people to think rather than just do.
SOLUTION FINDER Every problem has a solution. Sometimes it just seems that you have reached a dead end, but all you may have to do is put the problem away for an hour or a day, maybe talk to someone who can help... and come back to it, ready to turn it on it’s head, view it from another angle. And often, a solution emerges, sometimes quite laterally. Understand that there is a solution available and you will find it.
LEARN & TEACH No one ever knows everything there is to know on a subject. So be ready to learn and look for opportunities to learn, whether it’s about taxation or weaving! And always find opportunities to teach.
The more successfully you teach, the less you have to do of the same thing. For me that’s real growth, for both the people I work with and for myself.