In India, business families play a key role in grooming individual entrepreneurs. However, even in such a scenario, number of women entrepreneurs has been pretty less. Whether it is the lack of empowerment or the thought process – entrepreneurship in India has never witnessed a full-fledged growth due to societal-biased approach.
Nonetheless, Sahiba Dhandhania from Kolkata is an exception, who is a self-taught entrepreneur, making big strides at an early age.
After graduation, when most Indians look to secure a handsomely-paying job, Sahiba chose to begin her entrepreneur journey. In fact, she was only 21 years old when Sahiba founded EdTech — an enterprise with a strength of over 200 members. EdTech was awarded as the best start-up on campus by Economic Times in 2015 for its unique business model and unprecedented growth. The start-up raised funding from marquee investors like Matrix Partners and India Quotient, adding feathers to Sahiba’s prowess with a strong business acumen.
The success of EdTech was just a little push for Sahiba. In fact, she planned to dive with bigger responsibilities. Sahiba herself acknowledged, “I could have remained satisfied, but it was a strategic decision on my part to work as Business and Marketing Heads, Marketing Consultants for media giants in India and abroad”. Her experience of working in the United States and teh Middle East ecosystems gave her valuable insights into marketing strategies and their nuances.
Sahiba’s credentials have been well received abroad as well. “As an individual I have been associated with Media.net in California where I led a business vertical for Contextual Advertising. One of the biggest achievements in this particular journey was creating one of the U.S.’s largest job search websites in terms of ad revenues,” adds Sahiba.
Presently, Sahiba is dealing with Walnut Folks, which has been working with leading B2B brands of the country. The target of Walnut Folks is simple and straightforward as she notes, “We specifically try to work with B2B brands as there are very few agencies doing right by them, and that leaves a significant scope to create impact by driving strategies through data”.
Under Sahiba’s prudent leadership, Walnut Folks has got global clients like the Cranfield University, U.K., owned and administered by the Royal family of England. Sahiba played a stellar role in constructing a 5X growth story for Inspirus Education, India’s best overseas counselor through search engine optimization initiatives.
This apart, Sahiba manages BVC Ventures — one of the leading logistics brands in the world in the diamond jewellery and luxury sector. Sahiba signs off saying, “In the B2B sector, marketing is different from commonly-used platforms like Instagram or Facebook. And achieving results is more complex through digital activities as the product/service value is extremely high. But no doubt, commitment and strategy can definitely bring results to any brand over the long run”.
