How a 23-year-old entrepreneur turned ₹30,000 into a business clocking ₹20 lakh turnover
Lavish – a B2B company and a rising exporter of fashion accessories, costumes & handmade jewellery, handbags, and garments, has quickly become the most liked for many.
The Delhi-based startup was launched in 2017 and in such a short span of time, it has become an inspiration for the aspiring entrepreneurs out there.
Where did it all begin?
Aarushi, a graduate in economics and the Founder & Director of Lavish left her corporate career to take her entrepreneurial plunge in 2017.
Based out of Dwarka, New Delhi, Aarushi was working as a business developer with a local startup but was also pursuing her own part-time business of selling products on Amazon. But she soon realized that she wanted to become an entrepreneur and therefore quit her job to chase her dream.
At the age of 23 years, she single-handedly started Lavish with a mere investment of ₹30,000 from her own savings.
How does the brand function?
Aarushi explained that she sources her products through various craftsmen in and around Meerut, Agra, and other places in Uttar Pradesh. Initially, it was dealing with only ethnic apparel but slowly expanded to trading bags, accessories, and much more.
Lavish gets 100 kilograms of denim from Jaipur, which is then washed and refined at its in-house facility. Its other raw materials are sourced from different parts of the country, largely Old Delhi and Gujarat.
Aarushi has around 30-40 local women artisans who perform handwork like reusing old pieces of fabric and making jewellery and patch clothes out of it. Most of the women are working from home and make all kinds of articles by hand on a daily-wage basis. She has also partnered with around 30 vendors.
The international presence of the brand
Lavish has a huge international presence in the market. A whopping 95 percent of the total business comes from international sales. The major reason behind this is that the demand for handmade products is less in India while there is a huge demand for Indian handmade products internationally.
At the moment, Lavish exports to the US, UK, Greenland, Columbia, among others, and distributes products to retailers, wholesalers, and brands, worldwide. The startup has also received a project to make native African jewellery.
The brand is present on e-commerce platforms like IndiaMart, social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and even on the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), Enterprise Europe Network, and a US-based export portal.
Future plans
Aarushi said that due to the pandemic, the operations are carried out on a lower scale.
Post the pandemic when the economy will be up and running again, Aarushi plans to work out a retail strategy and also install retail stores, online and offline in the foreseeable future.
Aarushi plans on expanding her brand and getting Lavish listed on Amazon Global. Moreover, she is looking forward to partnerships with retail stores and getting associated with various other brands like Big Bazaar and Pantaloons.
There are also plans to soon instigate B2C selling as well.
From starting with a handful of investments to scaling the company to ₹20 lakhs in annual revenue within three years, Aarushi has undoubtedly triumphed as a young entrepreneur.
