It Is All About Taking Your Passion In The Right Direction- Shilpa Sharma Proved This By Her Brand, Jaypore.
Shilpa Sharma is passionate about 3 things- all things ethnic, traveling, and food. She knew her love for these 3 things can bring out the best from her, and they did, when she launched her brand, Jaypore.
Jaypore is a brand that is all about bringing together designs of artisans and craftsmen from all over India. Shilpa has devoted most of her professional years to the business of lifestyle and fashion retail. Hailing from an orthodox yet traditional family, she had her fair share of struggles that were well won. She has always been curious. She was adamant that she learns as much as she can, and not to settle for anything less than what she is today, due to the pressure of her family, to get married straight after graduation. And that’s how she chose the economics-statistics group at St Xavier’s College in Mumbai, did her graduation in economics, and then opted for her MBA in Marketing from Welingkar Institute of Management. She took a job in Advertising straight from campus.
She has stood strong on her career board for the past 25 years and has spent 16 years out of those years in fashion, lifestyle and retail space. She spent 12 years trailblazing the growth of Fabindia’s retail network of over 100 stores across various formats and geographies and called off with them after a successful run driving and managing Product Buying and Merchandising for the entire business.
She gave up on the corporate life in 2010 and set up her retail advisory to consult on strategic business advisory projects in retail, and worked on a myriad of assignments across large and small retailers and entrepreneurs including a large efficiency improvement mandate with luxury fashion brands in India. Talking about Jaypore, it started as a small platform where it sourced apparel, jewelry, accessories, and home décor from about 250 artisans, designers, and groups who work with about 10,000 artisans. she wanted to bring high quality, elite, and high on design work of Indian craftsmen to upper-middle-class homes pretty much all over the world. Jaypore has received Rs. 500 million in investments so far from social venture capital firm Aavishkaar. The online store gets a brutal visit of a million customers a month and has a consistent customer base of 70%. With an average deal value of Rs. 4,000-4,500 per transaction, the company earns a 45% gross margin across all its products.
Over the years of her entrepreneurial journey, she launched Breakaway – a venture which plans and executes impromptu experiential journeys around India. With Breakaway she unveils what is waiting to be discovered and experienced, through travel to known and unknown destinations in India. Her latest venture is a concept restaurant in Goa, Mustard, which is an outcome of a shared passion for food and unique experiences that offers Bengali and French Cuisine, both meeting over Mustard as an ingredient. As quoted earlier, Shilpa Sharma has known how to channelize her passion for things in just the right direction, and that is what makes her a successful entrepreneur today.
