Entrepreneur Sneha Raisoni lives by Steve Job’s adage Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

By Amrita Paul, SheThePeople.TV

Sneha Raisoni lives by Steve Job’s adage “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.” Today, her gifting and home décor store, Tappu Ki Dukaan, is loved, lauded and frequently visited by the residents of Mumbai and the website enables anyone from India to ship their favourite product, to a place of their convenience.

“Five years ago, I was working as a chartered accountant and I simply couldn’t see myself doing that for the rest of my life. Then I started travelling and exploring the idea of starting a gift shop, because back then we didn’t have too many options,” says Sneha.

Tappu Ki Dukaan is filled with quirky, functional and affordable artifacts which Sneha has curated from around the country. She admits that she hasn’t studied design but in spite of that her eye for innovation and design has sailed her through.

“Apart from the regular crowd of youngsters, we have also had companies like Deloitte approaching us to collaborate with them on their corporate gifting. My store in a lot of ways is an expression of myself, because there is nothing in the store which I wouldn’t buy and gift to someone,” says Sneha.

Tappu Ki Dukan

From the time she started her store above her dad’s existing business enterprise at Fort, Sneha has always had people pouring into her shop. But she says that in the last year, owing the emergence of shopping websites, retail stores have taken a hit.

challenge is to keep renovating to be able to remain viable to our customers

“Although some people are still keen on coming in to a shop and purchasing what they need, most are shifting online where they can get anything according to their convenience. Hence the challenge is to keep renovating to be able to remain viable to our customers,” she adds.

Two years ago, Sneha associated herself with another entrepreneurial venture in Lower Parel. Aptly titled Roti, Kapda aur Makaan, it is a small café and store which has apparels, home décor items on display for sale.

She says, “From the cutlery to the chairs, everything from the store can be bought. Because I am a people’s person I am thoroughly enjoying my time in the service industry. And if the café continues to do consistently well, we would definitely like to expand it to a bigger place sometime soon.”