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Sassy Sirens
An increasing
number of celebrity wives and moms are taking time off from their social
commitments to do business. And with much success, observes India Today
Special Correspondent Sheela Raval.
Twinkle
Khanna means business. While standing amidst a cluster of carpenters in
a 5,000 sq ft duplex apartment at South Mumbai's Millennium Tower, the
stilletoed glam doll in spotless white chiffon shoots off a volley of
instructions. One of the workers interrupts her saying he needs 15 ghanmeters
of Burma teak for the living room furniture. A quick call from her cell
phone to mentor and partner, architect Hafeez Contractor, settles the
size and quantity of the wood. Six ghanmeters, she tells the carpenter
firmly. Take it or leave it. The workers get the message loud and clear.
This is no scene from a Bollywood flick, the arm-candy actress is dead
serious about her new role.
Elsewhere in Mumbai, Avanti Yash Birla, the sassy bahu of the K.K. Birla
clan, socialites Czaee Shah, Hasina Jethmalani, Sheetal Mafatlal and a
host of others have also donned a new cap. Call it coincidence or an affliction
of the me-too syndrome, it's become trendy for celebrity wives and moms
to take time away from their hectic social commitments to do serious home
decor business. And to be successful while they're at it.
Birla, no stranger to success, entered the home decor segment in a big
way with Birla Lifestyle. Her upmarket furniture salon Yantra
showcases the ware of as many as 22 leading manufacturers from all over
the world.
The wide range of furniture and artefacts, ranging between Rs 250 and
Rs 10 lakh, are attracting an increasing number of people. Packaged with
a coffeehouse chain called Mantra, it distinctly reflects the house-proud
tastes and attitude of her family, something Birla calls offering a whole
style. This style is planning to expand from three cafes in Mumbai and
Pune to a dozen accross many cities, including Nasik.
Czaee Shah, wife of industrial baron Suketu Shah, is another
socialite who took the leap from homemaker to businesswoman last October
by pumping Rs 70 lakh into Comma, a home decor store in Kalaghoda, South
Mumbai that deals in accessories ranging from furniture to crockery. Endorsing
the universal appeal of these products, Amily Mann, director of the design
department of New York-based P-Kaufmann Bllom (spelling?) Craft, says
Comma could have easily been (located) in New York, Paris or Milan. Basking
in such reviews, Shah aims to go global with outlets in London and New
York. But at present, she is concentrating on opening a second store in
Delhi and more importantly, breaking even within the year.
With solid family back-up, brisk cash flow, and prime property holdings,
its not that money is an issue for those of her tribe, but still, the
ventures must make business sense. Shah doesn't buy into the assessment
that these businesses are merely new indulgences for the idle rich. She
believes spending her time doing what she enjoys while spinning money
from it is not only a challenge, but also a rare skill.
In fact, the overriding reason for these women to have gone in for such
enterprises is to have an opportunity to do something more meaningful.
Khanna, for instance, feels that her interior projects demand greater
creativity and talent than acting. Birla has several social responsibilities
covering the Birla Group's hospitals, charitable trusts and educational
institutions, but says this is the first time she is doing something challenging.
Shedding her often-used title of socialite, Birla prefers to be spoken
of as an entrepreneur with sharp business acumen.
And she's
not the only one. In a figure-hugging skirt and blouse,
Sheetal Mafatlal, the daughter-in-law of Yogendra Mafatlal, looks like
a happy-go-lucky page-three type. However, a shrewd business mind lurks
behind this facade. When Mafatlal was put in charge of the floundering
Mafatlal Interiors, she not only turned it into a successful modular kitchen-cum-furniture
venture, but also gave it a touch of exclusivity.
Mafatlal uses imported material that is designed to tailor to individual
Indian sensibilities. We offer a timeless look and an evergreen style,
she says, adding that even the prices, ranging between Rs 20,000 and Rs
2.5 lakh, are affordable.
Some attribute the success of these ventures to the images of
those behind them. Nobody buys from you because you have a beautiful face,
disagrees Khanna, who has many projects on her plate besides the Millenium
Tower apartment and the opening of White Window, her full-fledged Mumbai
home decor store. You give them value for money. Khanna's high-flying
clients, who dole out 10-15 percent of their total project cost ranging
anywhere between Rs 20 lakh to Rs 2 crore to her interior design firm
Mock-Up Private Limited, vouch for that. One such client is Amit Thaker,
the CEO of a food services company. He admits that he was initially reluctant
to give her the project, but is now glad he did. Twinkle is a home designer
with fresh, valuable ideas and a great ability to take work from ordinary
people, he says.
However, Khanna's partner Contractor feels success is born out of a combination
of hard work and image. He admits that his partner's glamorous image helps
in marketing, where persona is crucial to the product's profile.
Marketing
guru Jagdeep Kapoor supports that assessment while
viewing this flurry of activity in a larger perspective. It is in keeping
with global trends, he observes. The Indian market is slowly going in
for high-street retailing. According to Kapoor, there is nothing more
important to a luxury goods maker than brand value. And there's nothing
better than a well-known family name that can lend instant brand value.
The quality and the exclusivity of the product count only at the next
stage, where the effort put in by those involved is reflected.
If that's the formula for success, these socialite businesswomen
not only have the image, they are more than willing to put in the other
half, effort. They work hard, are innovative, and most importantly, juggle
their priorities well. Birla works to strike a balance between her duties
at home, social calls and business appointments. Similarly, Hasina Jethmalani
has learned to divide time between criminal advocate husband Mahesh Jethmalani
and their two children, her parties and her new design studio, S Apostrophe,
which boasts of an exclusive clothesline with accessories.
Like the others, Jethmalani has discovered a new sense of self. I
am on my own in my studio in every way, be it investment, responsibility,
liability or success, she says. I enjoy the respect I earn. In other words,
it's a much-needed second coming for the
beautiful businesswomen brigade.
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