Empirical experience of a successful entrepreneur and co-founder of Jabong -Praveen Sinha

Since past few years, India has been witnessing a slow economic growth. Several economists believe that our nation needs more entrepreneurs for boosting the economic growth. Hence, entrepreneurship is just not a fancy term but a solution to many of India’s concrete socio-economic problems. Entrepreneurs establish new-businesses, therefore creating more jobs which inevitably strengthen the market competition, thus enhancing the overall productivity. Although many entrepreneurs believe that starting up a business is a lot easier than successfully running one, which majority of the entrepreneurs fail to achieve. The question here is, what all does it take to be a successful entrepreneur?

Tracing your shortcomings and overcoming them

Through his empirical experiences, Praveen Sinha —the co-founder of Jabong, an enterprise which created thousands of jobs and brought revolution into the fashion and lifestyle industry, explains all what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. He says, “There are multiple traits which an entrepreneur needs to have to run any business successfully. However, it does not mean that an entrepreneur has to excel in each of those domains, but it becomes imperative to know the weaker areas which might call for complimentary help. It can be done either through building the right team or having the right partner as the co-founder.”

Building the right team and managing it properly

When Jabong was launched, Praveen as the managing director of the fashion and lifestyle online store played a crucial role in its massive success within a short span of time. One of the key ingredients to the success was his excellent managerial skills. The most essential aspect for being a successful entrepreneur is “building the right team and managing it well,” says Sinha. Moreover, his deep understanding and non-traditional approach towards handling the supply chain management fostered the whole process. “Capability to go deep and solve issues at granular and macro level will give you the direction, but it will not give you acceleration unless you solve the bottleneck issues,” he added.

Focusing on key indicators to analyse what went wrong or right

When Jabong entered the e-commerce market, there were already several well-established online portals with considerable market share, but that didn’t stop Praveen Sinha to trail most of them and reach the pinnacle of success. What made Jabong stand apart was its user friendly policies, such as 30-days return policy and open-box delivery service. Once the business of Jabong scaled up, Sinha started analysing all what was going right. “Focusing on processes, numbers and KPIs would be very relevant. It will give you a pulse when things go wrong or it gives you direction what is working when things go right,” quips the maverick entrepreneur. Focusing on the process, numbers and KPIs made Jabong count over 1.9 million gross orders within the first quarter of the financial year 2014 (within two years it was founded).

Being an entrepreneur is not an easy task as it comes with several responsibilities along with several uncertainties and precariousness. Having said that, it is also essential for the socio-economic development of the nation not only at the macro but micro level as well. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur or have already become one but struggling to succeed, the above mentioned tried-and-tested empirical experiences of a successful entrepreneur might help you in achieving your goals. Remember, when an entrepreneur realises his/her dream, the whole country takes a step forward towards a better tomorrow.