Sparkling salesmen

OUR BIG IDEA/Justin Varkey & Rahul Gupta

Justin Varkey and Rahul Gupta met when they were waiting to be interviewed for a job. They got talking and later met up for a coffee. That led to many other meetings and soon the new friends decided to explore starting a business together.

Gupta's job involved travelling in the interiors of Rajasthan and it was on one of these trips that he picked up Thewa jewellery for his wife and Varkey like what he saw.

Gradually, the two built Jusra International and today through exhibitions across the country and exports the two-year-old company has crossed a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore.

"JUSTIN VARKEY: My father was a deputy registrar in the University of Rajasthan and my mother worked as a computer professional. They had migrated to Jaipur from our village in Kerala, in search of better job prospects.

We were never well off. Luxuries were not important for my father but he wanted both his sons to have good diets, spiritual health and education.

I was always keen on starting my own business "" in fact, when I finished my 12th, a friend and I bought a horse with the intention of starting a riding school. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

After my MBA ,I joined Jet Airways because I wanted to go abroad and start a business. Some of my friends came down to Jaipur from Singapore and invited me to Singapore.

Meanwhile, I happened to meet Rahul when we were being interviewed by Canon. The company was looking for an area sales manager. Later we met and he said that if I ever started anything he would support me. I was very surprised because he barely knew me.

In 2001, I decided to take the plunge and go to Singapore for the second time. I needed money and Rahul, without questioning me, gave me Rs 16,000. I needed to take gifts for my friends there.

Rahul showed me a Thewa set he had picked up for his wife and I fell in love with it. I took some of those pieces but my friends didn't particularly like it.

We put together a consignment of Thewa pieces and sent them to our friend in Singapore, but it came back and got stuck in customs.

Somehow, we got that back and showed the pieces to an aunt and we made our first sale. Slowly our network developed. We would take the pieces when we went visiting friends. Rahul's wife would wear Thewa pieces to create interest in the jewellery.

Slowly we started ordering more pieces. Our investment then must have been Rs 14,000 or so. We then applied for our trademark and registered our company as well. Now we plan to export as well as increase our spread through franchisees.

RAHUL GUPTA: I was working as a deputy manager for a telecom company based in Jaipur and was looking after Rajasthan and Gujarat.

My father was a chief engineer with the Rajasthan State Electricity Board. I had joined IIT but quit in a month because I felt that it was not for me and instead did agricultural engineering and an MBA from Lucknow University.

I was very uncomfortable with my job. In a month I would be touring 20 days and there were too many restrictions. My future prospects were not clear. That was when I met Justin. I saw him and felt that he could really do something.

When I showed him the Thewa piece I had bought for my wife he liked it and that is how we started. A friend designed the brochure and catalogue and our logo, coined out of both our names. And through my experience we slowly built a network in Jaipur.

For our first exhibition, Justin and my wife took personal loans from a bank and with an investment of around Rs 6 lakh we created our entire line with branded handmade boxes, papers and jewellery.

We spent the first day studying the exhibition for which we had 175-200 pieces. We did an all-cash business of Rs 4 lakh. We were so happy with the response, there has been no looking back and we both quit our jobs as well.

We have participated in wedding exhibitions in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities. Our families also have been extremely supportive and now we plan to invest in other areas."