"Remember Why You Started"- Mr. Naveen Kumar

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1. Tell us more about your company and your journey?

To begin with our journey, it started in the year 2016 with a really less count of around three people, and now by god’s grace and our hard work we succeed at an early stage with a good number of employees working with us. Talking about the company, it’s named as SS METRO SAFETY ENGINEERING. Our domain is to provide safety equipment for all kinds of industries such has Chemical Industry, Pharmaceutical Industry, and Manufacturing Industry. The objective of the firm is to give solutions to all kind of safety related problems. Few of our products are HAND GLOVES, FACE MASK, EYE PROTECTION and BODY PROTECTION.


2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?

As they say “A friend in need is a friend indeed,” and that saying really worked for me. I’ve come up with the idea of starting the firm through my friend’s circle. One of my friend has started a similar kind of business in Chennai, and that fascinated me to go to his firm and to know how do they operate their business, who are their target customers, what products do they deal with, how to make effective sales and how to efficiently succeed as an entrepreneur. 

In that visit I’ve learnt quite a few things that helped me execute my own start-up. The company got established in 2016 at Hyderabad. Then I came up with few ideas and plans for the growth grow my business. After going through many hurdles to sustain in the market and facing all kinds of competition, finally my company got registered by the government. Hopefully at present the company has attained huge growth and made me a Successful Entrepreneur.



3. What has been your biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?

As everyone knows, getting into Start-ups is nothing but living in risk always. Start-up itself is a huge challenge, and one who overcome those challenges, successfully sustain in the market. To begin a start-up all you need is an Idea, but to maintain it one must be ready to face all the challenges that come up in their path.

As an entrepreneur even I had to face a lot of challenges during the starting stage of my business. Attracting the customers was and dealers was definitely a huge task. Even interacting with the customers and making sale to them was quite challenging. But I’ve never seen all those challenges as an hurdle to my business, all I focused was on how to make profits to the business and I proudly say that all of them had lead me to whatever I am today.



4. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur? 

According to me, there are certain qualities which I consider an Entrepreneur must definitely possess. To become an Entrepreneur is easy but to become a Successful Entrepreneur one must necessarily have patience because one can’t achieve heights at the very start of their business until and unless they come up with really booming ideas and perfect plan execution.

One must have a clear picture of what they want and how to achieve it, and that is the key for any business to become successful. Competition exists in any kind of sector, and an entrepreneur must know how to turn it into a healthy competition and turn his business successful. An Entrepreneur must know how to maintain loyal customers. The most important quality which all the Entrepreneurs must essentially have is to be very much determined towards their objective of the business. Also, time management is needed.



5. What are some of the most important factors for running a successful business?

Everyone have their own factors which make their business successful. In my perception one must necessarily do SMART WORK and HARD WORK. I would say Smart Work is the major factor, because it is that one thing which differentiates an Entrepreneur from an Employee. Hard Work is done by everyone but the one who knows how to do Smart Work undoubtedly succeeds. The other factors include knowing your network and taking abrupt and prompt decisions during any problem which would end up giving relevant solutions which leads to leads to success in the business.



6. What are your tips for the first time and aspiring entrepreneurs?

Being an Entrepreneur is never easy, but if one decides to be an Entrepreneur he must be ready to take up all kind of responsibilities that come along with the business. Foremost thing that not only first time aspiring Entrepreneurs but also all entrepreneurs must make clear is to “Never Give Up” on the business. A lot of obstacles would be coming up but overcoming all of them with a strong determination would help to succeed. Risk is another important thing to which any Entrepreneur must be open to.

The most important thing is to know what all are the new technologies and necessary up-gradations that are taking place in the sector they deal with and adapting to that change. The one who knows what his customer needs will definitely sustain in the market irrespective of any kind of competition that takes place. “Customers are the key to the business.”



7. How can one overcome a hurdle of lack of funds when starting up? 

As mentioned earlier, Having a Start-up isn’t easy. It’s a huge investment in which you never know if you would succeed or not. The one who comes from a wealthy background might not be facing any hurdles of lack of funds, But for others to gain funds and have proper financial stability to start a firm would definitely be a task. In Hyderabad to overcome such hurdles there is a non-profit organization named T-HUB which is a Start-up Incubator, basically a community space for Start-ups, Investors, Incubators and Accelerators in India. 

This initiative was made by three of India’s leading academic Institutions. This T-Hub is very much helpful for those who face hurdles of lack of funds as they would help in providing necessary funds depending upon the idea of Start-up. Aspiring entrepreneurs can overcome the hurdle of a lack of funds by approaching T-HUB. 

- Naveen Kumar, Entrepreneur

- Interviewed by K. Anusree

- Edited by Shilpy Sharan