If you have a good business idea, do not hesitate to reach out to people who can really help – Vishal Mehra

Ideas always open up new possibilities which can lead any business to the heights of success. Good ideas brighten up the chances of growth and pave ways for the business to look forward to something exciting and promising. In a conversation with Mr. Vishal Mehra, Executive Director & Chief Development Officer, Sanghvi Brands Promoters Pvt. Ltd, we unleash learnings of his entrepreneurial journey till now and the need to give importance to even the smallest of the details.

What led to the inception of your venture?
Sanghvi Brands is a 7 years old company started by my partner and brother, Darpan Sanghvi. I was in New York for 12 years where I finished my college and was working. I was looking for something interesting to do and that is when I met Darpan. At that point, Sanghvi brands was a start-up which had exclusive rights to brands like L’OCCITANCE spas, Warren Tricomi salons which is U.S’ leading celebrity salon brands and much more. So, when I had joined the company Darpan had already partnered with the Leela Hotel to open a Warren Tricomi salon in every Leela Hotel in the country. They had also partnered with Boutique Hotel and when I had met him, the idea was that we’ll be receiving private equity funding. He wanted me to take over and expand the company to leading hotels and luxury residences at that point across India. Then we also signed up with a couple of Marquee properties at the JW Marriot, Mussoorie. We connected with the Khyber Hotel, Gulmarg which again has been rated for providing the best Spa treatment. We’ve been winning awards for our spas since we have started. The idea was that lots of spas and salons in India either didn’t have clean services being offered inside them. Customers had been paying a lot of money and had not been receiving satisfactory services. So, we decided that we would step into this and take advantage of this opportunity.

What has been your top 7 learning in these 7 years?
When I had started working with Sanghvi brands, people thought it was crazy to chuck up a high paying job to work for a startup where no one really knew what was to come of the wellness industry. But because I believed in the models and brands that we had, the potential that we had, I stuck on to it. So, the first learning point is evaluating your options and seeing what each new opportunity has got for you. Try to make sure that you are a niche player and are offering more than what other people are offering. Second learning was that work very hard which is the age old saying one already knows about. Third would be having a very dedicated and happy team because since we were a startup, we couldn’t pay high as we should have or what our employees truly deserved. To treat your team with lots of love and encouragement takes you a very long way. A lot of people are comfortable with me in the organisation. They trust me and there isn’t a single time when I had not answered a call, message or mail in an hour. Because of that everyone is motivated and feels a part of the team. The other interesting learning which I have learned is that we partner with real estate developers and hotel owners. These people do happen to be really affluent and powerful people. I tried partnering with them not through consultancy, middlemen etc but through our small business development team. A task was given to them in which they were assigned hotels and were asked to bring details like e-mail address, contact number etc of the owners. I would write my own pitched and send them to the owners across the world. They would respond to my emails and I would hold meetings and struck deals with all of them. So, the truth is as long as you have a good product, no one is high and mighty to refuse it. All these people made it big based on good business ideas. If you have good business ideas, do not hesitate to reach out to people. These were the main key learnings that I’ve had.