Fulfilling ethnic need of men

To delight men with affordable and designer ethnic wear Manyavar an Indian ethnic men’s wear brand was established. In an interview Ravi Modi, Managing Director, Manyavar shares the success journey of the brand so far.

Neha Gohil (NG): Shed some light on your entrepreneurial journey? How did you conceptualise this business idea?

Ravi Modi (RM): We are into retailing of men’s wear since year 1990 through our outlet in Kolkata. Ethnic wear over the years has become a reasonable part of our product range. However I was not satisfied with the range in ethnic wear for men.  Ethnic wear which was being offered by various retailers suffered due to problems like over pricing, lack of creativity and untimely supplies.

The above was the turning point wherein I thought to start my own line and label ‘Manyavar’.

NG: What is the USP of ‘Manyavar’?

RM: The creativity of the designing cell, the price range, our production capacity of over one million units annually and timely supplies can be proudly announced as our brand’s USP.

NG: When and why did you plan to expand via franchising? How significant is this model for your expansion?

RM: We started franchising in the year 2008. In order to expand the business there is no other format other than franchising. I would recommend this format because we need local partners for retailing, hence franchising is the best option.

NG: Where all are you present across India and abroad (via franchised and company owned outlets)?

RM: We are present in 61 cities all over India and we have recently launched Manyavar in Dubai and Bangladesh.

NG: What are the brand’s expansion plans?

RM: As far as our national expansion plans are concerned, we want to open more flagship stores in all metro cities to spread our wings across 100 cities from the existing 61 cities and to reach the count of 250 EBOs in next one year from the present 155 EBOs.

Our international expansion plans are also massive. After entering Dubai and Bangladesh we want to cover all the cities in UAE, namely Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and many more. We are about to open three stores in Bangladesh and next would be in Sri Lanka, Nepal, USA and UK.

NG: What is your eligibility criterion for a prospective franchisee? What is your preference in terms of area and investment?

RM: As far as eligibility criterion is concerned we prefer raw people with good family background. Franchisee investment depends on the city and location of the store, usually amounting to Rs 20 - 50 lakh with an area of 800-1,200 sq. ft.

NG: What kind of training and support do you provide to your franchisees?

RM: We have both HO and regional trainings. The HO training consists of the store managers and all our franchisees and the regional training consists of the entire staff.