As an athlete in school, Anitha had a look of dogged determination on her face every time she ran a raceto cross the finish line first. Be it academics, sports or dance, Anitha was a topper and yet for those who know her well, the results were birthed out of unrelenting hard work and a steely will to never give up.
As an athlete in school, Anitha had a look of dogged determination on her face every time she ran a race to cross the finish line first. Be it academics, sports or dance, Anitha was a topper and yet for those who know her well, the results were birthed out of unrelenting hard work and a steely will to never give up.
Anitha ploughed through, pushed herself beyond her potential to stand tall as a leader, but with no airs about her success. She always had the time to lend a helping hand as a friend to anyone in need, along her life’s lane. Arthi Samson, a classmate from Class 3 recalls, “After being homeschooled, I had to join Breeks in Class 3 and cried uncontrollably being rattled at the huge size of the school. Anitha would console me and help me settle in, not giving up on me until she knew I was comfortable. I see that attitude in her, even now. She also demonstrated excellent leadership skills in school.”
As a ‘first generation entrepreneur, ’Anitha continues in the same vein, scaling the heights of success and bouncing back from the depths of failure. Her mantra for life remains,“ Putting people before profit (her father’s constant reminder) and reputation before revenue (her husband’s pearl of wisdom).”
A true Breeksonian from the Blue Hills, Anitha was inspired enough by her teachers to consider pursuing teaching as a profession. “But as I grew up, my gift of the gab steered me into aspiring for a career in public relations, then a lawyer but soon changed into wanting to be a psychologist. But I finally ended up with a Master's degree in Engineering and had a 15-year stint as a lecturer, serving in Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College, Coimbatore, in the CSE department.
“My dad was always an inspiration, while my husband has been a pillar of strength through the changing seasons of my life,” says Anitha. She decided to switch tracks when people egged her on saying she was cut out to do more in life. “One fine day, I decided to venture into the unknown. Keeping in mind that we live in a world where the expectation to meet demands in a jiffy is the norm, we named our company ‘Jiff Services’which was incorporated in the year 2008. As a partnership firm, we first ventured into the non-voice BPO services and were hit hard by the recession in 2009. This sent us whirling, for we had to hold an employee strength of 35 with the project being called off by our overseas client. That was a very huge setback.
My next venture was a contract with an overseas client for animation services, with the site up and running (Thors.com). It was a very satisfying business in terms of payment and work. Around that time, my husband and I, being avid readers, had a collection of well-read books which I suddenly felt were meant to do more than adorn my fast-disappearing shelf space. There sparked off the idea of a “library” and we approached several online libraries in the country and collaborated with iloveread.in to start our own library in 2012. It was the ‘first-of-its-kind library’ in the city then, with many following suit later. Our dream of a library was born to not only use the books on our shelves but to serve people, encourage them into inculcating the habit of reading books into their households.
My gut feeling was that since my previous project was purely monetary, rendering service would be a noble cause, which is the “soul” of my existence. We conducted a survey by taking part in the book exhibition in the year 2012, collected and filled forms to see if the market was ready for a ‘door delivery format’ of a library. We literally went by the books,” she laughs.
“From day one, our goal was to make the city read more. The habit of reading is fast waning and there is a constant complaint that lack of time, heavy traffic and no parking donot allow a reader the luxury of frequenting a library. So, we started a ‘door delivery’ format which delivered once a week, per customer, and we did manage to cover the entire city from Periyanaickenpalayam to Eachanari and Saravanampatti to Ettimadai. Our patrons had warned us that running a library was not a good business proposition in terms of cash flow but we ploughed on for a noble cause. Right from the word go, we found it difficult to find a growth in our member base. We had a few genuine book lovers but most of our members were kids who enrolled for the holidays only. Buying books is an expense and people failed to acknowledge that. Though our membership subscription was the least in the market, we were still expected to give a discount on the same.Our membership base touched 114 as a maximum in our five years in the market and that was mainly due to newspaper coverage of our business, which again only brought in a lot of traffic to the website, but very low conversions.
My husband kept funding the purchase of books and the salary for my employees because we believed we would soon have more members. Our staff even went about dropping pamphlets all over the city, but in vain. People called in to ask us if we deliver books for free, and when we said “Yes,” they misunderstood that we were a non-profit organization just intent on spreading the habit of reading. Last June, we decided that we had given the library our “all” and admitted that this concept was not viable in our city, and hence shutting it down was the only option left. The costs incurred by us toward rent, salary, fuel and books was not being replenished by the income from the library. With a very heavy heart, much to the disappointment of our loyal members, webid farewell to ourlibrary in the month of August 2017. I still receive an odd call or two, asking me about the library. “Where were you when I was looking for members, I ask the caller, albeit silently," ”reveals a rueful Anitha.
“Closing down was a painful process and I approached my competitor in the market to know if he can buy the books and serve my members, but he was more intent on buying the database of members and registered users,” she laments. Her husband Mohanraj, and son Aswath, have been her constant source of strength, instrumental in keeping her spirits up and not allowing her to sink into depression.
Anitha’s nephew Rajesh, came up with a novel idea of taking products from her hometown, Ooty, to other parts of India. Thus, was born her present venture—an online store, www.buyfromooty.com, for Ooty specials, mainly aromatherapy oils and teas. “Through this online store, I happily pack away ‘health’ to my customers, serving a customer base that spans across the entire country which has ‘wellness needs’ in natural essential and carrier oils. We specialize in blends of oils too,” reveals Anitha.
Anitha has always been a treasure trove of activity and ideas. Under the banner of Jiff Services, she also sells her inventory of books on Amazon on a used book store, Book Worm - The Book Shop. With an inherent interest in clothing and color, she has begun an online page on Facebook for women called Ani’s Fashion House.
Anitha’s candid advice to aspiring women entrepreneurs is to “Live One Day at a Time. Do not over speculate. Experience every moment and experience happiness in the small things. Do not take up what worked for others, it does not work anymore. Do not be bogged down by what the world has to say, they are not the ones living your life. What you think is right, what you do is perfect and what you trust, will be true. Take up what you know best and success will be yours, and don't deter at small pitfalls.”
In Anitha’s race as a first-generation entrepreneur, financial hurdles were the hardest to handle. “I was baffled at the intensity of money matters. The lows were when I had to close one unit after the other which utterly broke my confidence. I felt like a complete failure in life. Mohanraj would constantly remind her during a business setback that it was the business and the business model that failed, not her. “His funding and understanding really made the world of difference for me to get back on my feet, every single time,” recalls Anitha fondly. When asked on what distinguishes Anitha as an entrepreneur, her husband Mohanraj exults at her journey saying, “Anitha’s sheer determination and her ability to care for others.”
“External support arrived in the form of some wonderful souls who came forward to buy parts of the inventory. Some of the members bought the books too. However, the low is that I still have around 2000 books waiting for book lovers which is taking a whole 17x16 room in cartons. I would be grateful for a buyer to pop out and buy them all,” she admits. “Everyone thinks an entrepreneurial journey is one of success and even some close friends and family assume that it is a walk in the park. Little do they understand what it is like to live every moment with uncertainty, and yet goaded on with an unwavering fighting spirit of sportsmanship (much like the races she ran as an athlete). I am glad I lived my dream of serving humanity and shall continue do so as long as I live!” signs off Anitha on a winning note, unhurried by the pace that the world defines as ‘success.’
Get a book off Anitha’s shelf by contacting her on 9003952002@The Grandeur, 22, Shreyas Layout, Gandhiji Road North, Coimbatore