JOURNEY OF SUCCESSFUL ENTRPRNEURS

Name: Halimah Sheikh (20P00067)

Huma Naz Janjua (20P00009)

Submitted To: Ma’am Amina Talat

Section: A
Subject: Entrepreneurship and SME
Submission Date: 5th March, 2021
 Table of Contents
INTERVIEW OF FEMALE ENTREPRENEUR........................................................................................3
Dazzle by Sarah..............................................................................................................................................3
Dazzle by Sarah......................................................................................................................................3
Introduction............................................................................................................................................4
Idea and Motivation...............................................................................................................................4
Initial Phase.............................................................................................................................................4
Challenges and Motivation....................................................................................................................5
Capital Investment.................................................................................................................................5
Competitors.............................................................................................................................................5
Growth....................................................................................................................................................6
Covid-19 Situation..................................................................................................................................6
Team and Network.................................................................................................................................6
Future Plans for Dazzle by Sarah..........................................................................................................6
Designs of Dazzle by Sarah....................................................................................................................7
Interview Questions:..................................................................................................................................7
INTERVIEW OF MALE ENTREPRENEUR.............................................................................................7
Rina’s Kitchenette..........................................................................................................................................7
About Rina’s Kitchenette.......................................................................................................................8
History.....................................................................................................................................................8
Introduction............................................................................................................................................8
Idea..........................................................................................................................................................8
Initial Phase.............................................................................................................................................8
Bakery Into Restraunt............................................................................................................................9
Capital Investment.................................................................................................................................9
Covid Situation.......................................................................................................................................9
Motivation.............................................................................................................................................10
Challenges.............................................................................................................................................10
Team......................................................................................................................................................10
Competitors...........................................................................................................................................10
Future plans..........................................................................................................................................10
Expected Growth Rate.........................................................................................................................11
Network.................................................................................................................................................11
Enabling Factor....................................................................................................................................11
Items By Rina’s Kitchenette................................................................................................................11
Interview Questions:................................................................................................................................12
2
INTERVIEW OF FEMALE ENTREPRENEUR

Dazzle by Sarah

Dazzle by Sarah

Dazzle by Sarah is footwear brand launched in 2018. They make handmade khussas’s with intricate
details in every colour. They have a wide variety of khussas’s from basic to luxury they have it all.
They have recently added another category to their footwear which is Kolapuri.

Introduction

Dazzle by Sarah is owned by a 24-year-old girl named Sara Asif. She completed her bachelor’s in
management sciences from LUMS in 2018. She was never a job person, she always wanted to be
her own boss. She did internships during her Bachelors. After her graduation she applied in multiple
firms and got call from almost every firm. After her first job withing few weeks she realised she is
not a 9-5 person and needed to get out of the corporate world. She always had a unique sense of
style and an artistic soul. She then quit her job and took her time to investigate the market scenario.

Idea and Motivation

Sara was always passionate about gota, dabqa and handmade embroideries. She first wanted to do
something in Apparel industry. She went for market visits and realized there is no market gap that
she could fill. Inspired from her elder sister who loved wearing khussas’s, she decided to give
footwear market a try. Khussas’s have always been in trend, but they were available in mostly solid
colours or with little embroideries. She decided to mix her passion with khussas’s and Dazzle came
into being. She wanted a unique brand, something that would resonate with customers. She wanted
everything to be perfect be it the brand tag on khussas’s or the designs and finished product. She did
an extensive research which has paid off.

Talking about the thought process behind the brand name, in marketing we study that a name
should be easy to remember, pronounce and should resonate with consumers. Sarah wanted fancy
khussas’s and she always wanted to add ‘by Sarah’ in her label. The team brainstormed ideas, they
shortlisted 2-3 brand names, but ‘Dazzle by Sarah’ sounded perfect and it had all the attributes that
are required in a good brand label.
3
Initial Phase

She went to multiple locations in Lahore to find a shoemaker who was not just perfect but would
understand her directions clearly. She struggled a lot as there were not many cobblers who could
understand her demands and needs. They were just ready to replicate ‘liberty/local’ khussas’s and
did not like Sara’s innovative ideas. She then went for a visit to androon Lahore, mouchi gate and
laterto Multan. After her hard work she finally found few shoemakers who understood her demands
and needs and today they are her most important asset.

In local market we can easily find khussa of any color, size and design. Sara wanted something
unique, something that would stand out. Since she was always interested in hand embroideries,
dabqa zari, sheesha, ada and gota work, she looked for best artisans. She made multiple designs on
paper and then implemented them slowly on khussas’s. She played with colours, and her initial
batch consisted of soft pastel shades with intricate embroidery details and sheesha work. She
officially launched her product by the end of 2018 and instantly took over the market.

Challenges and Motivation

Initially she was not able to find the right shoemakers and artisans. She struggled a lot as they were
not able to fulfil her demands. After finding the right people she was not able to communicate her
designs to them as they required precision. So, she had to train them which was quite challenging.

She uses pure cow leather for insoles and faux leather for upper and outsole. Training and finding
leather became of the biggest challenges for her. After her launch, setting up a dedicated production
team and HR management was quite tough as Dazzle by Sarah took an instant hit and she was
getting huge influx of orders.

Due to the challenges in beginning, one might think to just quit but after quitting my job I had no
source of income but had a passion to do something. This passion kept me strive through the
difficult times and kept me motivated. It is not just I wanted to earn money, or it was out of
necessity, it was all intrinsic. It was my dream to have my own label not the monetary perks, she
stated.

Capital Investment

She had worked as an internee in ICI after her graduation and worked as a teaching associate in
LUMS, she put all her savings in her venture. But this was not enough, it was just 50 per cent. She
needed more capital, and she went directly to her family. They were very supportive of her and
invested whatever she required. She later paid it off in a year as she considered it a debt.

4
Competitors

There were already local khussas’s in market which were a main threat for her. She introduced
khussa in her own way. She added comfort and aesthetics to traditional khussa which made her
stand out in this market. After this, Stylo, Ecs and other footwear brands tried to step up their game,
but Dazzle by Sarah had already become a market leader and it did not affect her in any way. She is
bringing new designs almost every month, she is giving comfort and a variety of options to the
customers. Other footwear brands that are selling khussas’s are not being innovative and creative,
they are more focused towards other types of footwear rather than just khussas’s. Dazzle by Sarah
in short does not consider brands as her competitors at all.

Growth

According to Sarah, growth comes with passion, uniqueness, variety, and hard work. Dazzle by
Sarah had unique designs, pretty colours and intricate gota ada work with comfort being the most
important factor. They instantly took over this market segment and today they have become a
market leader. Their sales grow 3 times every year which is a huge success for an entrepreneur. The
high sales growth is not just because of the designs she added. She believes comfort with beautiful
designs is what customers require, and she has providing them with her brand. These customers are
the reason for her growth.

Covid-19 Situation

Covid-19 situation affected every small to large business, but this was not the case with Dazzle by
Sarah. The brand has always operated online, and because of this they never saw a dip in the
business even during the pandemic. As a matter of fact, this period witnessed highest business
growth. Dazzle by Sarah has an edge over other footwears, her designs are not just unique, but they
resonate with the consumers and she has turned her first timers into loyal customers. She believes
no pandemic can take her customers away.

Team and Network

Dazzle by Sarah is composed of small team comprised of 15-20 members only. Every department
has its own head who check out all the operations. She has a production team who is solely
responsible for the production of khussas’s from scratch. The head of production buys the raw
material and checks for quality and details all by himself. The media team handles all the queries
and complaints, if any. Rest of the team members work together and keep an eye on sales,
dispatching of orders, and final quality check. She believes she has a very dedicated and
hardworking team. They are aware of their job duties and have strong leadership qualities and know
5
how to act according to different situations. She said she is very grateful for her team members as
because of them Dazzle by Sarah is the market competitor today. They have reduced her workload
by almost 50 per cent.

Future Plans for Dazzle by Sarah

Sarah is operating online from past two years but is planning to open her own small shop when
COVID-19 situation gets better. Other than this, she is making new designs and adding more
variety and categories to her brand. At this point Dazzle is only focused on traditional footwear
mainly khussas’s. She is planning to add other categories such as open sandals and slides with ada
work. She is planning a fusion of traditional and contemporary designs.

Designs of Dazzle by Sarah

Interview Questions:
Tell us about your background including your age and eductaion.
Tell us background about your brand ?
Where did the idea come from?
What were the initial challenges and how did you cope up with them?
Do you have any stakeholders or is it a sole propertiership?
Tell us about your team and how your team help you deal with competitors?
What happened during pandemic? How it affected the sales?
Overall business gowth?

6
INTERVIEW OF MALE ENTREPRENEUR

Rina’s Kitchenette

About Rina’s Kitchenette

Rina’s Kitchenette started in 2010 with a simple “cook from home” eatery and got all the Lahori
love to grow over thousands of loyal patrons across town. Their smash burgers , oriental bowl and
Caramel Crunch loves you as much as you love it.

History

Initially the start of this was from the home bakery that Mr. Ammar Mohsin who is the owner of
restaurant today. His mother started home baked cake business as she was passionate and wanted to
do something of her own in field. She started her small home business 25 years from today in 2001
when there was no social media or no popularity of promoting through televisions or any other
media means so she promoted her product by word of mouth and gained customer trust.

Introduction

Mr. Ammar Mohsin who is now the owner of Rina’s Kitchenette who took Rina’s to another level.
He is 33 years old, did his Bachelors in Business Administration from Lahore School of Economics
in 2010. Then, he worked at Unilever as a Senior Brand Marketing Manager of Lifebuoy. He was
never a job person, he always wanted to be his own boss. After working in Unilever he realised that
he was not a 9am-5pm job person and besides this he always wanted to do something innovative
something in which he could utilize his skills, something different from everyone. Also by looking
at his mother doing home bakery he thought to expand it.

Idea

Mr. Ammar Mohsin was always passionate about her mothers business. Just by looking at his
mother doing all the baking and generating revenues he wanted to convert this into a proper bakery
shop and so he opened up a bakery shop in 2010 right after his graduation.

7
Initial Phase

Then still after opening up a bakery shop Mr. Ammar’s mother worked as a baker in the shop
because it was initial phase as he had no team, secondly he did job at Unilever as well as on
Saturdays and Sundays he assisted his mother. He worked at Unilever for 4 years but then he
realised that he should only continue to handle his family business. His sister is a taught chef from
Dubai and both of them worked hard in opening up this restaurant.

Bakery Into Restraunt

Running Rina’s bakery for 6 years he thought to convert it into a restraunt. Although to keep his
bakery on top in the market it was very essential for him to keep innovating something new which
he did. But in 2016 he did a market survey and found out that many restraunts running their
businesses are in this field have no food background, they have hired chefs from some other places.
So because of that he thought that Lahore should be introduced with new flavours some new
innovations some more new food items. Mr. Ammar’s sister is the head chef who has proper food
background and she has also experience in the food industry.

Capital Investment

The capital investment of turning a bakery into restraunt was some ratio like it was 50% of Mr.
Ammar’s investment as he had saved some of the money of from his job but it was not enough to
turn a bakery into restraunt. As it required proper sitting area, other things like interior had to be
changed and other things like that were to be added to make it an attracting good eye catchy so his
investment was not enough. For this purpose he had to directly ask his family for the other 50% of
the investment. As this was already a bakery and converting it into a restraunt was a great idea and
Mr. Ammar’s family supported him in his innovative initiative, they invested whatever amount he
asked. Later on Mr. Ammar recovered this initial amount invested in 1 year in the form of profit.

Covid Situation

Covid situation in 2020 according to Mr. Ammar didn’t hit hard to Rina’s Kitchenette. According to
him 50% of the fine dining restraunts were shut down, the restraunts who attracted their customers
were hit harder by Covid-19 this was because the government had banned indoor dining and those
restraunts either had not great ideas or no proper space for out door dining. But according to Mr.
Ammar Rina’s Kitchenette was able to survive even though it performed better like it opened
outdoor dining for its customers which had a great responses from customers. Apart from this car
service, home delivery and takeaway was also highly responded and highly entertained by the

8
customers so by this way Rina didn’t face any difficulty during the Covid time period, instead it
worked like the normal day and somethings much better than normal routine days.

Motivation

As such Mr. Ammar had no passion but the thing that keeps him on track and motivation that he
generally have is the innovation of doing something new and adding something different to the
business that is not done by any other restraunt. He thinks that innovation is a factor which can help
him compete with the competitors. Also the thing that he keeps on achieving the specified targets
that he keeps for himself is also a major factor for his motivation.

Challenges

While interviewing Mr. Ammar Mohsin asking about the challenges he face, he told he face many
challenges in daily operating of his business. He thinks that these businesses are a part of regular
day to day business so he upfronts them with a new spirit to deal every challenge strongly. He sees
the challenges as fun as they are part of daily life which come and go.

Team

Mr. Ammar Mohsin at his restraunt Rina’s Kitchenette has a small team in which his main team
compromises of his Dad whose handles (Taxation), Ammar’s Sister (Head Chef), Mother of Mr.
Ammar Mohsin (Retired Chef). Apart from this he has 3 people in the purchase department,
restraunt has its accounts department team, it includes HR and Operations departments as well
where HR department helps in operations as well. Within the restraunt there are 2 managers who
controls main things.

Competitors

According to Mr. Ammar he has no competitors as they don’t run for the sale of wallets of the
customers. He thinks that there are not enough restraunts to give competition because they lack
proper enriched taste. Rinas provide authentic taste and that no one else in the market does.

Future plans

Mr. Ammar Mohsin wants to open up a Chinese restraunt which he will name as Chinese Hotspot
as according to him every Chinese restraunt of Lahore has the same taste which is not worth it,
while he wants to add authentic taste in his Chinese food which he will be offering. He wanted to
open up this Chinese restraunt last year but due to Covid-19, he faced major issues.

9
Expected Growth Rate

He thinks that at this point his growth rate will increase more that he has today will be after opening
new types of restraunts giving different tastes and adding in innovation will also increase growth
rate. Recently he faced stagnation in 2020 due to Covid-19.

Network

Mr. Ammar Mohsin’s network consists of limited people who were connected through his mother
from 25 years. His sister who is head chef does all the main grocery of small items herself but for
other raw materials he has assigned a staff member who purchases from those shops from which
their mother bought.

Enabling Factor

His enabling factor was that he didn’t want to work under someone and wanted to do something of
his own in which he can invest his effort and time more willingly.

Items By Rina’s Kitchenette

10
Interview Questions:
Tell us about your background including your age and eductaion.

Tell us background about your brand ?

Where did the idea come from?

What were the initial challenges and how did you cope up with them?

Do you have any stakeholders or is it a sole propertiership?

Tell us about your team ?

What happened during pandemic? How it affected the sales?

Overall business gowth?

Where did the capital investment came from?

What are your enabling factors?

Tell us about your competitors and how do you think you are different from them?

What was your motivation behind this venture?

11