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| Shalini Joslin, The Carpet Barn, Kochi |
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She had no
red-carpet
entry into business. In fact, Shalini
Joslin’s choice of quitting her medical transcription job at
Coimbatore and
coming back was to start a business to run her family consisting of
three young
children.
Though her
feet touched the rugs in front of many real estate and interior design
firms,
she could not get a break in terms of orders.
Multiple journeys to Varanasi and umpteen taxi rides to
the interior villages
to secure supply deals with unknown carpet weavers had been
unsuccessful
initially. It was in the midst of this
learning process that she met and struck a deal with a north Indian
vendor to
supply carpets.
But her
first house-based job landed her in embarrassment and tears as the
woolen
carpet she laid shed fibre on the very day of house-warming, leading to
loss of
money and good will.
Undaunted,
she continued her quest for market entry.
If earlier, her mode of transport was her old car, she was
soon forced
to go by bus with samples of carpets across Kerala.
Finally,
one
small order came her way. And then a few
others of that kind. Slowly news spread by
word of mouth that a job entrusted to Shalini would be executed to
customers’
satisfaction.
And then
she started getting bigger and bigger orders from hotels and corporates. Even from outside the state and country.
Thus ‘The
Carpet Barn’, a leading customized carpet and rug provider in Kochi had
its
humble beginnings with sweat and tears of Shalini.
Sanil
Abraham
(text), manoramaonline, Nov 3, 2024
