Tarishi Jain and Nivesh Arora: ajoobaa Co founders & Entrepreneur Duo

Tarishi Jain and Nivesh Arora: ajoobaa Co founders

At Sugermint, our aim is to bring to our entrepreneurs and startups community some of the inspiring and motivational stories from the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

As part of this endeavour, we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur duo Tarishi Jain and Nivesh Arora who founded crocheted children’s apparel startup Ajooba for an exclusive interview with us.

Tell us a little about yourself

I am Tarishi Jain – an architect by qualification and entrepreneur by passion. I have done by B Arch from Government College of Architecture Lucknow and Masters in Building Engineering and Management from School of Planning and Architecture Delhi.

I have got 5 years of work experience in managing and designing construction projects. Presently I am building ajoobaa.in along with my husband Nivesh.

Nivesh and I met during our school days and then we completed our education from different colleges. Nivesh is MBA from Narsee Monjee Mumbai and has worked with an international express courier company and an ecommerce giant. In total he has 8 years of work experience.

Ajoobaa deals in handmade crochet and knitted apparels for kids and very soon we will be diversifying into ladieswear and home décor.

Please tell us a little about your entrepreneurial journey

When we got blessed with a baby girl, my mother-in-law Ms. Neelam (who is a head artisan for ajoobaa now) gifted a cute woolen crochet frock which I liked so much that I started making one.

So, that’s how when I started crocheting and since then there has been no looking back. I just love weaving magic with crochet needle.

With the designs, I started making the clothes for nieces and daughters of my friends and viola… Ajoobaa was born!

Little did I know how much fun I would have along the way! I started with acrylic wool and now crocheting with mercerized cotton thread as well.

What service(s) or product(s) do you offer at Ajooba?

We are manufacturers of handmade crochet and knitted apparels and accessories presently in kidswear category. We also offer customisation to the customers as per their liking and size.

What is unique about your label brand?

Our all products are handmade. From head to toe what a baby can wear, we have that stuff ready. Right from headband to booties to bedding products to carpets for kids room, ajoobaa has the entire gamut of product range.

What made you choose this type of business?

It feels really awesome when we see the smiling faces of our artisans after they receive the amount for their work.

Indian economy has migrated from agriculture to service without a manufacturing boom and we have always wanted to do something in manufacturing field.

Building ajoobaa gives that feeling of satisfaction and side by side a social aspect gets also covered which is a sterling 100% happy and honest feeling.

What was your mission and vision at the outset?

Initially we wanted to just fulfill the orders that we were getting from friends and family but with word-of-mouth orders started pouring in.

As production of handmade products take time hence, we started looking for artisans in nearby areas and slowly and steadily we were also contacted by artisans groups when they got to know about us.

Finally, that few handmade products converted our mission to vision which is “to bring handmade products revolution in India”

How many employees in your organization?

Including us there are 6 employees in the organization. Nivesh and I are involved in production, marketing and merchandising while the other 4 employees looks after daily operational activities like quality checks, labeling, packing, dispatches and return management.

What’s your company’s goals?

We have one goal and that is to bring handmade products revolution in India. Just like Amul brought White Revolution in India, we want to bring handmade revolution in India.

For this, we are joining artisans with us and very soon we will be able to start exporting our handmade products.

What was the inspiration behind turning an entrepreneur

I would say somewhere in the dim recesses of my mind it was always there that I had to start something on our own.

So, I needed the spark and a handmade frock gifted by my mother in law ignited that spark to start looking at handmade things differently.

This propelled us to develop an efficient supply chain for handmade articles and one door opened and made the way for another door.

What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

Most important learning has been that one has to try fast and fail fast. In today’s lightening fast world when the information is available on fingertips, one has to know and execute the art of converting the information to actionables and results.

This can only be learnt by experimenting by doing the litmus test. The latest failure was that we should have launched ladieswear an year before and we could not do that as we were occupied with kidswear. What we learnt is that the time is now.

Key things to consider before starting a startup

Get all the loans and liabilities removed before you start up and give yourself wings and then sky will not be the limit.

What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?

Well that is not starting out early. We started around 2018 but now we think that we must have started up 4-5 years earlier as that would have been a perfect time to start.

Startup ecosystem was growing at a fast pace. It is growing now as well but first mover advantage is always there.

When one has even a small idea in mind, the plunge has to be taken at that time otherwise in today’s digifast world it becomes too late.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

Perseverance pays. When the dream is big, one is not alone in the journey. Problems will definitely come but there is always a miracle waiting for you in the form of solution and about to happen. By the way – ajoobaa itself means a miracle.

Your success tips for young and aspiring entrepreneurs

Keep experimenting and never shy away from hustling. If you have a firm belief in you then half of the work is already done. Other half leave it on your hardwork.

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