 The month of March is dedicated to women and what better book to review, one about Nina Lekhi, the enterprising entrepreneur and Managing Director of Baggit, India's own bags and accessories brand.
As told to writer Suman Chhabria Addepalli, Bag It All is an inspirational story of Nina Lekhi and her journey of how she nurtured her business and her Baggit 'baby' to eventually conquer the corporate world on her own simple terms. Her very passionate nature helped her overcome her failure at the University level exams. By realising the gap in the Indian market for trendy, yet functional handbags, Nina pursued her passion in the world of creativity. From a humble setting of her bag making venture in a Worli (Mumbai) based apartment at the age of 18, selling home stitched canvas bags and interning at various local outlets, this is also her story of her transformation at a personal and professional level.
Her venture built on the power of love and intent, was largely braced by her extremely supportive husband, Manoj, her own family and in-laws, which Nina clearly echoes throughout the book. Her eco-friendly venture did empty her pockets in the initial years of its establishment. However, Nina's internal transformation through her strong belief and the practicing of Siddha Samadhi Yoga, that strives for inner peace and tranquillity, helped her overcome this. This has been so effective over the years that she encourages her co-workers to attend workshops on this concept, regularly. The company also holds a one-hour yoga and exercise session for its entire staff every week and also requires the attendance to a three-day residential silence camp every three to six months at the gurukul in Katarkhadak, near Pune.
Presented with the Karmayogini Award in 2012 and Outlook's Business 'Women of Worth' Award in 2015, Nina has bucked the popular belief (also made famous by Pepsi's Indra Nooyi) that women can either work or handle home. There is certainly a thin line which divides our personal life from our professional one. Nina's concepts on life from a business owner's and a mother's perspective assisted her in balancing responsibilities on both these fronts and helped her turn her Baggit 'baby' and her daughter, Vedoci, to become fully grown 'adults', ready to take on the world. Coining the brand's name out of a joke, Baggit has certainly come a long way. Recently, the company joined the INR 100 crore club and is present in 61 cities, owning 40 exclusive brand outlets, and is available in 300 multi-brand stores.
The book does lend inspiration to women, especially youngsters. It is a known fact that starting any business is not easy, especially if one starts a venture without a concrete plan. The fact that Nina had overcome all the bottlenecks and hindrances that came her way, both at a professional and personal level, makes starting a venture sound very easy! After reading the book, one might even jump at starting your own firm! That said, the read has a general viewpoint on the struggles and related solutions that go behind managing a firm. While elaborating a little more on the intricacies of how to steer a company in troubled times and what goes behind running a company would have enlightened the reader a little more, however, the book makes for a compelling read. The personalization of this book peppered with photographs and thoughts from her family and close friends also stands out.
Although the book must not be used as a benchmark to start an organisation, it certainly has the nuggets of knowledge which Nina Lekhi terms as secrets intended to 'bag' your dreams!
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