Rahul Anand and Rajat Tuli on how they created a youth brand for India
What makes an entrepreneur? The BBC's Saima Iqbal and Tom Santorelli speak to Rahul Anand and Rajat Tuli, about turning an idea about making products tailored specifically for young, upwardly-mobile Indians into a thriving business.
Business partners Rahul Anand and Rajat Tuli first met while pursuing their Masters degrees.
In 2003 the software company they had joined together went bankrupt and they decided it was time to take the plunge and start their own enterprise.
They had the notion that there was a niche in the market for a brand which catered for India's youth - a demographic which they thought up to then was being underserved.
At the time a large number of foreign companies were setting up their outsourcing arms in India.
Rahul and Rajat realised that this would mean there would be more young employees with disposable income, but there was no brand completely dedicated to India's youth.
"The youngsters these days are independent, they have opinions and they like to make a statement with the T-shirts they are wearing or the glass they are sipping their drink from" says Rajat.
The idea for their business hit them while they were both out jogging. They were so excited by the brand name they immediately ran to a cyber cafe and registered it.
My Business
What does it take to build your own business from scratch?
How does a US expat navigate Russian bureaucracy? Or illiterate Moroccan women learn to sell their own wares? Or a Brazilian designer win over Western celebrities?
BBC World Service reporters speak to entrepreneurs around the world about their inspiration, struggles and successes.
Happily Unmarried would be a fun brand which made a vast range of products from household items to clothes and beyond which catered for young Indians. The sort of well-designed yet functional items a young single - or taken - person might like to be seen with.
Seed capital
But their former employers had not paid them for the last six months and they had no capital to get their venture off the ground.
Pawning a laptop given to them by their old company raised 25,000 rupees ($450) - which was not even enough for them to hire office space. "So we said let's give the impression that we're a really cool company! So we got nice visiting cards made, very fancy posters made and put them everywhere. And then we got a website...we were operating out of cyber cafes, out of buses, out of other peoples' offices, and that's how we managed in the first couple of years" says Rajat.
Their efforts at raising their brand awareness paid off. Starting out with a small kiosk inside a mall in Delhi, they now sell in 25 stores across 80 cities in India. "We also have stores in smaller towns in India and the sales are encouraging, it shows that Indian youth in smaller cities also like to spend and they are opening up to products that are in your face and make a statement" says Rahul.
Design ethos
The partners employ four designers to come up with new product concepts: "The basic surmise is very simple. It has to make you smile", says Rahul. Their products are colourful, funny and are often emblazoned with somewhat irreverent text which makes them a hit with the younger generation.
But their goods are also designed while keeping the utility factor in mind, says Rajat. "We have designed some innovative laundry bags, toothpick holders, key holders for walls, door-mats and tea-cups that are not just great design ideas but we need them in our lives too".
They are open to new ideas and one need not be a professional designer to design for them according to Rahul: "People from all walks of life write to us sharing their ideas and if we like the idea and decide to turn it into a product then they get royalties and credit".
E-commerce is also one of the fastest growing platforms for their products and the past year alone has seen the highest online sales of their products. "People have better access to the internet and they are opening up to the idea of shopping on the internet" says Rajat.
Youth connections
They have been able to leverage the ubiquity of social media sites to increase sales and create a sense of community in their customer base. "It just reaffirms your faith....it's a feel-good factor!" says Rajat, checking the number of friends Happily Unmarried has on Facebook - 63,00 and counting.
One of the aspects of the business the partners enjoy the most is putting on one of India's biggest independent music festivals - called Music in the Hills - in different venues each year. It helps introduce people young and old to the Happily Unmarried brand. "It's a big party for two days and two nights" says Rajat. "It works as a huge promotion for us and we love doing it".
Operating out of an office in Delhi, most of their 200 or so products are made in smaller towns closer to Delhi like Saharanpur, Roorkee, Moradabad and Panipat which are the traditional industrial hubs of northern India. "These cities have seen huge losses due to a lot of manufacturing industries going to China, but the cost of production is low and fits our needs" says Rajat.
With an annual turnover of 5 crores (roughly $900,000; £570,714; 707,247 euros) Rajat feels the industry is taking them seriously now. "We're not just designing products we are also designing restaurants, organising events and giving them our touch by making it more fun".
Vince Cable: I am not holding back business - Daily Telegraph
Mr Cable hit back saying: "I'm getting on with my job, supporting business and getting growth growing in Britain. We not holding anybody back, I'm back growth, supporting British business, working with government, working with the labour-force in a partnership. That's the way it's got to happen.
Body of missing Harvard Business School student whose wife was pregnant with first child found in harbor - Daily Mail
- Nathan Bihlmaier, 31, was celebrating graduation at Irish pub when he was asked to leave for being too drunk
- Portland Police Chief confirmed it was the 31-year-old, saying: 'It’s a tragic end'
- Was due to graduate on Thursday
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The body of a Harvard Business School student who went missing on Sunday after drinking with friends in an Irish bar has been found.
Nathan Bihlmaier, 31, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, disappeared while celebrating his upcoming graduation with two friends.
Divers returned to the Maine harbor today after finding clothing on Monday belonging to the 31-year-old and later pulled the body from the water around noon.
Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck confirmed it was the 31-year-old, saying: 'It’s a tragic end. We had high hopes throughout working with the family and the community to bring Nate home. These weren’t the circumstances that we wanted to.'

Vanished: Harvard student Nathan Bihlmaier, 31, was last seen by the Portland waterfront late on Saturday night. He is pictured with his wife, Nancy

Last seen: He and two friends had visited the Old Port area before Mr Bihlmaier vanished around 1am, divers found a body there today

Found? A missing poster of Nathan Bihlmaier, 31, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is seen today in Portland, Maine. Police have yet to confirm the identity of the body
Police say Bihlmaier was separated from friends after being asked to leave a waterfront pub at 12:20am on Sunday because he was intoxicated. He later failed to return to his hotel.
His wife is pregnant with their first child. He was due to graduate on Thursday.
Police told the Portland Press Herald that Mr Bihlmaier and two friends traveled to Portland for the weekend to celebrate their graduation from business school.
The revelers visited the Old Port area on Saturday night, before Mr Bihlmaier was asked to leave the bar soon after midnight because he was drunk.
Police confirmed that he had 'a little bit too much to drink', but added that he did not cause a disturbance while leaving the bar.
'At that point he left the bar very cooperatively,' police chief Michael Sauschuck said, according to the Bangor Daily News. 'There were no altercations - he just left voluntarily after being spoken to by bar staff.'
He spoke to his friends on the phone, but did not return to the hotel where they were staying. They searched for him to no avail and reported him missing at 9am.
Concerned: His pregnant wife, Nancy Hi Bihlmaier, rushed to the coastal city after receiving the news
'He is a well-established individual from a strong family. He has a wife who is expecting their first child. There is no reason he would [purposely] go missing,' Lt Gary Hutcheson told the Press Herald.
According to his cell phone records, Mr Bihlmaier did not venture far.
Police tracked his movements through his phone signal after he left the bar until his battery apparently died 40 minutes later.

Family: Mr Bihlmaier, originally from Kansas, with his wife Nancy and his parents Cheryl and Steve

Mystery: Police tracked him after he left Ri Ra, pictured, until his phone battery died 40 minutes later
The Coast Guard and the Portland harbormaster worked together with police to launch the underwater hunt for clues.
They even used a cadaver dog on an inflatable raft to search for the man's scent.
His pregnant wife, Nancy Hi Bihlmaier, rushed to the coastal city after receiving the news that her husband was missing, as did around 20 of his business school friends.
A spokesman for the school told the Press Herald: 'His friends describe him as really one top-notch guy.'
Mr Bihlmaier, whose family comes from Kansas but who is now based in the Boston area, specializes in the business of healthcare, and is employed by medical provider Optum.
He has previously worked at several other healthcare firms, as well as for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Business leaders celebrate county success - This is Gloucestershire
More than 70 business leaders attended a reception last night for the launch of the 2012 Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire supplement which will be published in The Citizen and Gloucestershire Echo on June 26.
The event was held at the Cheltenham campus of Gloucestershire College and the supplement is being sponsored by BPE solicitors, Endsleigh Insurance and Hazlewoods accountants who were all represented.
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Speakers and sponsors at the Top 100 Businesses networking event
Ian Mean, Editor in Chief of Gloucestershire Media, publisher of The Citizen and Gloucestershire Echo said the Top 100 supplement was first launched seven years ago and had now become “a bible and barometer of business success in Gloucestershire.”
And he announced some exciting developments in Gloucestershire Media’s business coverage. The launch of a new southwestbusiness website dedicated to Gloucestershire, Bristol and Bath and a new glossy monthly business magazine for the county called Agenda.
Through the website the latest business updates will be emailed out daily to the county’s opinion formers.
“It is quite a big development and there is a lot of interest from our business partners,” said Ian Mean. “The new Agenda magazine is going to humanise business in Gloucestershire.”
He thanked the county’s businesses for supporting Gloucestershire Media’s business publications - both editorially and commercially.
“Kevan Blackadder, Editor of the Gloucestershire Echo, and I believe business is a very good story,” Ian told the business leaders. “But without your partnership we don’t have anything.”
Chris Pitt, marketing manager of Gloucester-based Ecclesiastical, which took the number four spot in last year’s Top 100, said the insurance group was celebrating its 125 anniversary but looking to the future.
As a protector of some of the nation’s most important historic buildings, Ecclesiastical was the real expert in the field and would stick to its principles confident this was the way forward.
He said The Top 100 was a great way to celebrate the thriving businesses in Gloucestershire.
Chris Pockett, head of communications at engineering group Renishaw, said whilst it was good to see new businesses breaking through there was “a certain reassurance” to see the same company names appearing in the Top 100 list year after year.
Renishaw was in a strong position, performing well and seeking 100 skilled people to help ensure the group’s future success. It is also planning to expand its county sites by 280,000 square feet
The group will donate £90,000 to community organisations this year within a 50 mile radius of its Wotton-under-Edge HQ
“Whilst a list that highlights business achievement can be an excellent barometer of the wealth of Gloucestershire , in many ways it can also be a useful guide to the health of Gloucestershire,” said Chris Pockett.
And John Workman, senior partner at BPE solicitors, said: “Business is what makes Gloucestershire. We have a relationship with the business community that is time honoured and this is our heartland.”
He added that despite the recession businesses had learnt to “live with the new reality” and get on with it.
Ruth Dooley, partner at Hazlewoods accountants and business advisers, said it was good to talk up the county’s good business stories and celebrate success.
It was also good to see the private sector become involved with the public sector through initiatives like the Local Enterprise Partnership and have a voice to Government.
“There is a real will to promote business in Gloucestershire,” said Ruth. “We are delighted to be one of Gloucestershire’s growing businesses.
“We are delighted to be supporting the Top 100 supplement.”
An Online Support Group Looks for New Ways to Connect Business Owners - New York Times
On a recent Tuesday just after noon, D. Penn Moody, an Indianapolis optometrist and owner of Moody Eyes, was the first business owner to present a problem to his peer advisory group.
Dr. Moody had recently expanded his vision practice and eyeglasses store, and he said he was having difficulty in balancing medical consultations and product sales. When a medical equipment manufacturer from Boston asked what his value proposition was, Dr. Moody replied, “I think the value proposition is that we’re the middle of the road.”
That sounded vague to Chris Ronzio, founder of the Event Video Company of Beverly, Mass. He suggested offering more V.I.P. services. The medical equipment manufacturer advised Dr. Moody to send his employees to visit successful competitors. And a business consultant based in North Carolina, Marty Clarke, suggested that if everyone who walked into the store were asked for a “wish list,” Dr. Moody’s employees could focus on consulting rather than selling.
The suggestions struck a chord with Dr. Moody, 61. When the facilitator asked him what action he planned to take, Dr. Moody said that he had already been sending his employees to visit competitors but that he would rewrite his value proposition and rescript the first five minutes of interaction between the staff and customers. He set a three-week deadline.
Soon, he and his fellow attendees said goodbye, shut down the Web-conferencing platform they had been using to meet, and went back to work.
Heading a small business can be a lonely job. There are always issues that are not appropriate to discuss with friends, employees or family members, so even experienced entrepreneurs can feel lost.
“I remember starting my company and thinking, ‘I don’t have any colleagues,’ ” said Caroline Daniels, owner of a property rental company in Nantucket, Mass., and a lecturer in entrepreneurship at Babson College. “There wasn’t anyone to bounce ideas off. And even if your instincts are good, you wonder, ‘Is this good or crazy?’ ”
In recent decades, business owners and chief executives have turned increasingly to so-called peer advisory groups. Today there are many such groups with chapters across the country, including The Alternative Board, Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Vistage International and Women Presidents’ Organization. The first modern group is thought to have been founded in 1957, when Robert Nourse, a Milwaukee businessman, created The Executive Committee, later known as TEC.
Not surprisingly, peer advisory sessions can feel like group therapy for high achievers. In structured sessions, owners take turns presenting their business problems to a dozen or so peers, owners of local but noncompeting businesses. After each presentation, the other members ask questions to extract more details and get at the “real” issues. They help the owner devise a plan to address the issues. Finally, the owner sets a deadline and designates someone in the business or in the group to see that the plan is carried out.
But these groups have limitations. They require that members live in an area where there are enough interested owners to form a group. Even then, owners may not find a group that fits their schedules or needs. The required investment of time is high, usually one full day a month with additional one-on-one coaching sessions. And the groups are expensive, often $10,000 a year or more.
Now, however, peer groups are moving online. About two years ago, Vistage, the former TEC (some branches use the old name), decided to develop a Web platform. With more than 15,000 members in 15 countries and $120 million in annual revenue, Vistage is the largest of the profit-making peer advisory companies. (Others, like Entrepreneurs’ Organization, are nonprofit). Its investors include Lawrence J. Ellison, chief executive of Oracle; Michael R. Milken, chairman of the Milken Institute; and Thomson Reuters.
Vistage wanted to address two issues. “One, could we provide a peer advisory service that’s not geographically dependent?” said Casey Jones, general manager of the online service that Vistage developed. “And, two, could we lower the cost, and thus reach a larger population?”
What emerged is Vistage Connect, which opened to the public in April after about six months of testing. The service, part social network, part library and part conferencing platform, features tabs across the top of its home page that allow users to enlist other members as informal board members. Members can also track their progress on business goals, sign up for online peer sessions and read how-to articles. The online sessions are based on topic rather than geography, meaning that users meet with different peers each session — but the aim is to replicate much of the live experience.
During Dr. Moody’s recent Tuesday meeting, five business heads from locations as far apart as Boston and Houston signed on to a two-hour session. In a “virtual room” meant to mimic the live peer-group experience, they were joined by a Vistage facilitator in Chicago, a Vistage company representative in San Diego and Mr. Clarke, the business consultant in North Carolina. As each person spoke, his video image rose to the top on the right side of the Web page, while the left side of the screen displayed slides related to the topic at hand.
After a presentation by Mr. Clarke on motivating salespeople, the facilitator introduced the problem-based presentations that form the core of Vistage’s peer-advisory system. Amid an active give-and-take, Dr. Moody presented his issues. The session helped him establish daily objectives for the three goals he had entered and begun to track under the “My Goals” tab: define the marketing model, define the operating model and gather appropriate data for strategic planning.
Within a week, Dr. Moody had acted on several suggestions. The employees at Moody Eyes, which earned more than $600,000 in revenue in 2011, no longer have new customers fill out a two-page medical history dense with legalese. Instead, customers are now given a one-page wish list that asks them to rate their interest in 12 areas, from glaucoma to prescription sunglasses.
“It’s changed the whole dialogue,” Dr. Moody said. “Instead of me trying to guess whether you want to talk about glaucoma if you’re young, you circle that you have a family member with glaucoma. It allows them to determine what the conversation will be about. It takes all the pressure off of us.”
Dr. Moody also redefined his store’s value proposition, which he now defines as personalized eye care. While it is too soon to assess whether the new approach is improving sales, Dr. Moody said he thought it would. “It makes everybody’s experience more positive and personalized,” he said. “And I think that translates into better sales over time.”
So far, Vistage Connect seems to appeal to a slightly different demographic than Vistage’s other groups. With an annual revenue threshold of $500,000 (instead of $1 million) for members’ companies, it is open to smaller players. It also is attracting younger members, Mr. Jones said. While he declined to make growth projections, he said that 200 executives joined during the first month of open enrollment.
Vistage Connect costs $3,600 to $6,000 a year (depending on level of use), far less than the $13,000 cost of an annual membership in a live Vistage group. And because members can pick sessions at any time, members can get help quickly instead of waiting for a monthly meeting. The shorter sessions are also easier to fit into a busy schedule.
“I get more done in two hours with Vistage Connect than I do with eight hours in my live group,” said John Robinson, 42, a business consultant in Scottsdale, Ariz., who is also co-chief executive of various companies through his business, Backup CEO. Mr. Robinson recently took a hiatus from live Vistage to concentrate on the online version.
Stocks Drop Over 1% on Greece Fears; FB Gains - CNBC
Stocks dropped near session lows Wednesday, with all 10 S&P sectors trading in negative territory, amid worries that Greece could exit the euro zone and ahead of an informal EU Summit in Brussels.
The euro fell below $1.26, hitting its lowest against the dollar since July 2010. And the German 30-year bund yield tumbled below 2 percent for the first time ever.
“This is a market that’s nervous over the deteriorating situation in Greece and Europe and waiting for a policy response that can assuage fears,” said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was sharply lower, led by H-P [HPQ Loading... () ] and Intel [INTC Loading... ()
].
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also added to declines. The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, traded above 23.
All 10 S&P sectors traded in negative territory, led by energy and techs.
Stocks closed flat in the previous session after Greece's former Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said the risk of Greece leaving the euro is real, and that an exit would have "catastrophic" economic consequences for Greece and the rest of the euro zone.
Papademos later clarified to CNBC that no preparations were underway in Greece for possibly exiting the euro.
Still, worries over Greece's potential exit kept investors on edge, especially ahead of the EU summit. European stocks fell sharply, reversing a two-session recovery rally.
The informal summit is expected to discuss growth-boosting measures and the prospect of common euro zone bonds, but investors doubt it will produce a plan to resolve the debt crisis and restore market optimism, especially as Germany strongly opposes the idea of mutualizing debt.
“This is a market that demands flexibility and caution,” cautioned Krosby. “There will be rumors that come out of this meeting—and rumors can move the market both up and down.”
On the economic front, new home sales rose 3.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted 343,000-unit annual rate in April, according to the Commerce Department, beating expectations for a 335,000-unit reading.
Facebook [FB Loading... () ]traded higher, struggling to recover sharp losses from the last two trading sessions. Needham initiated coverage of the firm with a "buy" rating and a $40 price target.
Dell [DELL Loading... () ] plunged after the IT giant forecast disappointing second-quarter revenue as U.S. and European corporate tech spending weakens and consumer personal computer sales continue to shrink. At least nine brokerages slashed their price target on the firm.
Rival Hewlett-Packard [HPQ Loading... () ] is scheduled to post after the closing bell tonight. The Dow component is also expected to announce steep layoffs during its earnings report.
Toll Brothers [TOL Loading... () ] edged higher after the luxury homebuilder posted earnings that beat expectations and reported a strong jump in new orders, thanks to a strong spring selling season.
Guess [GES Loading... () ] jumped after the clothing maker reported a quarterly profit that beat market expectations. And PetSmart [PETM Loading... ()
] surged after the pet products retailer posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its full-year outlook. At least nine brokerages boosted their price target on the firm.
Ford [F Loading... () ] received its second "investment grade" credit rating, allowing the second-largest U.S. automaker to reclaim its Blue Oval insignia and other assets it mortgaged in 2006 to fund its turnaround plan.
Meanwhile, Ariba [ARBA Loading... () ] was trading flat after European software company SAP [SAP Loading... ()
] said it plans to buy the company in a deal valued around $4.3 billion, the latest sideswipe against rival Oracle [ORCL Loading... ()
] in the fast-growing Internet-based computing market.
The government is scheduled to auction $35 billion in 5-year notes at 1pm ET.
—By CNBC’s JeeYeon Park (Follow JeeYeon on Twitter: @JeeYeonParkCNBC)
Coming Up This Week:
WEDNESDAY: 5-yr note auction; Earnings from NetApp, Pandora
THURSDAY: Durable goods orders, jobless claims, 7-yr note auction, BlackRock shareholders mtg, Goldman Sachs shareholders mtg, McDonald's shareholders mtg; Earnings from Costco, Tiffany
FRIDAY: Consumer sentiment, USDA food prices outlook
More From CNBC.com:
World stocks fall amid political turmoil in Greece - Yahoo Finance
BANGKOK (AP) -- World stocks dived Wednesday after a failure by Greece's political leaders to form a coalition government set the stage for new elections next month, keeping Europe's debt crisis center stage.
The turmoil in Greece sent European shares lower in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.9 percent to 5,388.93 and Germany's DAX slid 1 percent to 6,335.93. France's CAC-40 was down 0.4 percent at 2,036.30.
Wall Street was also headed for a lower opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures losing 0.1 percent to 12,589. S&P 500 futures were 0.2 percent down at 1,325.90.
Asian benchmarks recorded sharp losses earlier in the day.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.1 percent to close at 8,801.17, its lowest close since Jan. 30, amid discouraging economic news. Core private-sector machinery orders fell 2.8 percent in March, the first drop in three months, Japan's Cabinet Office said.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng plummeted 3.2 percent to 19,259.83 and South Korea's Kospi fell 3.1 percent to 1,840.53. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 2.4 percent to 4,165.50 amid sliding commodities prices.
Newly elected Greek leaders — hotly divided over how to resolve the country's economic crisis — failed Tuesday to form a new government. That means new elections must be held in June.
Some investors fear a win by parties that oppose unpopular austerity measures necessary for Greece to qualify for urgently needed bailout money. Without the money, the country would likely default on its debt and leave the euro common currency.
"The Greek crisis will continue to frustrate markets, keeping sentiment under pressure," analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong wrote in an email.
Mainland Chinese shares also lost ground, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index falling 1.2 percent to 2,346.19. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 1.4 percent to 942.04. Shares in real estate, cement producers, furniture makers and financial companies weakened.
Elsewhere, blue-chip shares across sectors throughout Asia registered sharp losses. South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. plunged 6.2 percent and Hyundai Motors Co. shed 4 percent. In Japan, Toyota Motor Corp. lost 2.1 percent. Nomura Holdings Inc. lost 1.5 percent.
Shares of major Chinese shipping companies plummeted amid fears of weakness in Europe, a critical export market. Hong Kong-listed China Shipping Container Lines Co. sank 5.2 percent. China COSCO Holdings Co. dropped 3.7 percent.
"The Chinese shipping sector is down sharply and continues to downtrend," said Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. "The market is not good right now, but I expect a technical rebound is coming."
Falling commodities prices hurt Australia's mining sector. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's largest mining company, lost 4.1 percent. Rio Tinto Ltd. was down 3.9 percent. Paladin Energy Ltd. tumbled 9.3 percent.
Benchmark oil fell $1.56 to $92.42 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 80 cents Tuesday to finish at $93.98 per barrel in New York — oil hasn't finished that low since Dec. 19.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.2716 from $1.2734 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar rose to 80.36 yen from 80.27 yen.
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AP researcher Fu Ting contributed from Shanghai.
That's just terrible - poor man and condolences to his family. RIP Pity one of his friends made sure he was safely put into a cab or something.
- julie, essex, 23/5/2012 11:59
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