Swapna Wagh an IIM, Calcultta graduate. She has more than 8 years of working in organised retail industry. Swapna decided to do something which was more challenging and closer to her heart. And she decided to start a business which she was dreamt since her childhood.
When did entrepreneurship blossom into your mind?
With some deep thinking, I realized that today gifting options for kids are so restricted to cars and dolls which are all imported. The tech savvy generation is constantly glued to their gadgets which is also causing health problems at a very early age. They are losing out on their social skills blame it on nuclear families and single child. We hardly see anyone playing with authentic Indian today and Games. The reason for children not playing with these games is because no one is offering them in best quality. Then there was also this fear of these games becoming extinct which further prompted me to take this plunge and become an entrepreneur to safeguard and promote our Indian toys and games
What are the challenges you faced before getting into this business?
Though my venture idea was unique, sourcing these from manufacturers was a major challenge as none of them were making them then. They believed today’s kids will not play with these and they will not be able to match with the quality and price of the Chinese toy makers. I still managed to convince a few and made some samples for our pilot run to make sure that this business will be commercially viable and to understand the demand for the same. The pilot run was a hit. Customers loved our products, especially the quality. They wanted their kids to play with these toys but were not sure where to get them and they didn’t want to buy cheap quality from their native places.
Toys have always excited her since childhood and hence starting a venture in Toys was no surprise to me. Desi Toys planning to serve varieties for their customers by adding more Traditional Toys, Traditional Games & Classical Game to the list.
How this pandemic impacted your business?
Pandemic did affect us for more than 2 months as we could not open and operate our warehouse. But fortunately, what worked in our favour was our online sales. We could see a spike in online sales which covered the temporary loss of the offline sale from airport and mall.
Something about Desi Toys?
Desi Toys is still small with a very less inhouse team as we prefer outsourcing most of our work in product designing, digital marketing and compliance filing. We started as a bootstrap company and then used Mudra loan facility which we further upgraded to Stand up India loan which is working very well for us.
How does the ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign by the Government help your business?
The campaign helped us to get the much-needed attention. This focus was long due, and we could not have asked for a better time than now. We do see a slight shift of customers preferring Indian made products which is so welcoming. Implementation of mandatory testing quality standards is also a good move which will help to stop the import and dumping of low-quality toys in India. Indian manufacturers are also geared up to ensure good quality products are made and sold in India and globally too.
We have been interviewed twice on CNBC TV channel and have been featured on many online sites like Yourstory, Her story, Womensweb, Sheroes,etc. We have even been featured on major newspapers like TOI, The Hindu, Dainik Jagran,etc.
How has been the journey so far as an entrepreneur?
The journey is still long with lots of potholes, speed breakers and highways but we will keep moving ahead to achieve all our milestones. As an entrepreneur when you see growth in your business even during such testing pandemic times, you know that you are doing something right which is satisfying.
What steps do you follow to make your business journey smooth?
Set realistic goals and review continuously, be customer centric, don’t compromise on product offering, Set SOPs for all processes, empower and delegate progressive team.
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