The calmness of the ocean in all of its unparalleled beauty and majesty is a sight to behold, with a vast horizon beyond what the eye can see and unknown mysteries to discover both deep within and beyond. A calm glass-like surface deludes masking the power that lays within. That is the image Jayalakshmi Narayanan evokes when she unfurls her story of unleashing the creative power behind ‘Mitras’- a women’s clothing outlet in RS Puram, in the renowned textile city of Coimbatore. Over a decade, ‘Jaya’ as she is more popularly known, is a successful entrepreneur in her own right. The waves of stress, uncertainty and loss have been an integral part of that ocean, and yet she remains who she is, churning out waves of fashion amidst the tumult within.
The calmness of the ocean in all of its unparalleled beauty and majesty is a sight to behold, with a vast horizon beyond what the eye can see and unknown mysteries to discover both deep within and beyond. A calm glass-like surface deludes masking the power that lays within. That is the image Jayalakshmi Narayanan evokes when she unfurls her story of unleashing the creative power behind ‘Mitras’— a women’s clothing outlet in RS Puram, in the renowned textile city of Coimbatore. Over a decade, ‘Jaya’ as she is more popularly known, is a successful entrepreneur in her own right. The waves of stress, uncertainty and loss have been an integral part of that ocean, and yet she remains who she is, churning out waves of fashion amidst the tumult within.
Born in Coimbatore, her college education at Ramakrishna Arts and Science College came to a grinding halt when marriage was thrust upon her at 18 years of age. “I have always dreamed of making clothes and accessories, even as a school girl, and being very good at Arts and Crafts in school, I dreamt of studying Fashion Designing, but that did not happen. Having married early and starting a family, my dreams were draped upon my little girl ‘Mitra,’ who was my first model to quench my thirst for creating innovative designs. I used to design and stitch a dress out of old saris and dupattas, for Mitra, every single day.
When both my son and daughter started school, I had time to dream again, allowing the embers of Fashion Designing to be rekindled again. I started buying and selling salwar sets in exhibitions but was feeling restless within, dissatisfied with just the ‘buying and selling. ’I felt compelled to do something innovative and interesting, and by then I had come across a screenprinting workshop where I learnt a lot of skills and immediately put them to use the very next day by hiring one staff and a small table in my house. Keeping in mind the shortcomings on the job, I expanded to ‘blockprinting’ with just four tables and four staff,” reminisces Jaya.
But for Jaya, her biggest ‘mind block’at that initial phase of her business journey was that people might not acknowledge, let alone accept her, as a business woman.“Hailing from a family unit of homemakers, I was the first woman to start a business and found it extremely odd to tell my inner circle of friends and relatives about my business. As my business grew, my relatives and friends heard about it from outsiders, and hence it helped me serve my own with a professional touch,” she laughs. “After a few years of experience, my urge to grow the business emboldened me to opena small shop of 80 sq. ft. in RS Puram, where I started selling kurtis that I had made. (Jaya, by the way, is literally the brand ambassador for ‘kurtis’ because she cannot bring herself to wear anything else, in spite of being in the fashion business, and she laughingly explains, “That is owing to the ease and comfort of kurtis as I go about my business which involves being on the move always). On the go, she is known for draping quite a few accomplished models from Coimbatore and even designs clothing lines for big events like Mrs. Universe.
Jaya’s rise from a budding entrepreneur to an established one, has been made possible because of her “hard work and a dogged determination to grow by thinking ahead of how to be a step ahead always,” says her husband Narayanan who wound up his construction equipment business to support his wife. “Mitras was growing by leaps and bounds, because Jaya has this uncanny ability to weigh the pros and cons, the profit and loss of every business step she takes. She made sacrifices as a wife and mother, now it was my turn. She is not a promoter and I easily stepped into that role. Being a fast thinker, Jaya can handle anything independently. Today, we have about 40 employees and four branches comprising of two outlets in Coimbatore and one in Chennai and a workshop,” says Narayanan.
Jaya laughingly admits that for a husband who hated shopping, having to sell and promote clothes or accessories for his wife’s clothing business was indeed a big deal. “I had mixed feelings when he joined me in this venture. But as many of my friends say, if not for my best salesman, I would have been hampered in growing my business this quickly.” Jaya plans to open six Mitra branches by the end of 2020. She lets in on another of her brainwaves — “We have just launched a silver jewellery accessory line called ‘Silvr Lines’ which we believe will surprise and satisfy our customers considering the sky-rocketing gold prices.”
Jaya has also boldly overcome setbacks in health owing to the highly stressful nature of her business. “I believe in delivering to the customer their product with their exact detailing and specifications. Understanding and communicating ‘customized design’ to our North Indian labourers is a challenge, because though they are highly skilled and disciplined unlike our south Indian folks, they too need to be supervised continually. Further, no fashion design graduate is going to take on independently the load off your shoulder unless they have experienced what it means to “work.” We transform sarees with block printing in just half an hour,” she reveals.
Visalakshi Sivaprakash has been Jaya’s friend and customer for over a decade now. “Jaya’s knowledge of fabric, design and colour help her creativity flourish. Her rapport with clients and judgmental capacities make her cater to the tastes of individual requirements. So, customization is a cakewalk for her. Her topnotch ideology is to charge customers fairly and not on the basis of their affordability,” she opines.
Jaya’s ‘morning coffee friend’ Brindha who has seen Jaya’s transformation from the dreamy homemaker biding her time to the enterprising fashion designer that she is today, says, “I have seen how Jaya turned her hobby into a business, from the very first day, which has been a huge growth curve both for her business and for her as a woman. She makes things happen, and that is undoubtedly her strength. Her first boutique was her only source of income, and to see how she has made her business grow from practically nothing, with only the help of her supportive husband, is astounding. Jaya has a very good attitude and an extremely broadminded disposition which serve her well in her business. She is humble, calm and treats her staff well, with absolutely no airs of how accomplished a businesswoman she actually is.”
Jaya remains blissfully unaware of the aura of business success that surrounds her. Ask her what success means to her and Jaya quickly changes the topic to how women can emerge as successful entrepreneurs. “Whenever you start a business, small or big,be proud and happy about it. That will give boost your self-esteem and confidence to deal with people. In business, you will face both success and failure. At the time of success, keep yourself stable and at the time of failure, do not allow your confidence and ability to bounce back ever leave you. Most importantly, balance you family commitments with business,” she advises. Push Jaya some more for how she perceives herself, today, she relents with, “I think the ability to mingle with all sorts of people and as an entrepreneur to read my customers’ requirements and fulfill that. When our clientele admire and appreciate our work, it is a feeling that money cannot buy,” says a very content Jaya.
(Saunter into Mitras Clothing Store located on Venkatasamy Road W, Near Green Trends, R.S. Puram, Coimbatore 641002)