At 31, Bengaluru-based entrepreneur Vatsala Kothari can’t really remember a time when she did not harbour dreams of starting-up. Fortunately for her, hailing from a family of serial entrepreneurs only fueled her ambition and helped offer a leeway to those, who didn’t have the opportunities that she did. Her recent venture, Love This Stuff sprouted after observing a lack of options for budding and small-scale designers, from economically backward backgrounds, to scale up their avenues. With the handmade usables garnering popularity among city folk like none other, she lets us in on her journey...
Vatsala Kothari
“When I began as a designer-cum-entrepreneur with my debut venture, Bee Happy, I realised as a designer, it wasn’t easy to find a platform which gets your products to your target consumer, especially if you don’t have that much funds to back you up,” reveals Vatsala, whose recent venture is best summed up as an online marketplace for handmade and eco-friendly products made by upcoming designers at affordable rates. While the venture kicked off in October 2016, Vatsala believes the risk to start something anew is already paying off. “We’ve been taking baby steps, of course. I’m thrilled to see works of young and promising individuals who sell handpainted shoes, handmade laptop sleeves and eco-friendly bags. But we have over 500 + promising small-time designers creating stuff using their hands and creativity. And, the ability to give them a platform to showcase their talents drives me,” adds the alumnus of Indian School of Business. An engineering graduate by qualification, Vatsala believes her coding and programming background has helped. “I did have a series of corporate gigs before I ventured into this, so I like taking every opportunity and trial in my stride. While I wasn’t too happy about doing the course, I believe my engineering days have given me a few invaluable lessons and skills, nevertheless!” she quips.
Despite the entrepreneurial path being a dicey one, Vatsala believes its her calling. “ I knew I wasn’t in for an easy ride. But, I think my strength and belief in my abilities stem from the fact that my parents always believed in us (my brother and I). I always knew I wanted to build something on my own. Having been a designer and someone who’s creatively inclined, this was always a plan. We didn’t have the typical conventional growing up. As cliche as it may sound, I’ve been privileged to be blessed with the right people around me, who believed in me long before I did!”
Having settled in Bengaluru, Vatsala is certain her venture will find takers in this free-spirited, cosmopolitan city. “Bengaluru has a very free-spirited vibe. While I’ve lived in Mumbai all my life, after shifting base to this city a couple of years ago, I must say the amazing energy and versatile sartorial sense has an unadulterated charm of its own.”
