Sonia Birla and her younger sister, Vibha Parwani, recently conducted their third fashion exhibition in Jaipur where we got to interact with the ladies. Well, don’t mistake them for any ordinary exhibition. The way these sisters execute the process has the power to encourage any homemaker to start her own business.

During a candid conversation, the sisters revealed all their money-churning ideas to JWB.

JWB: What kind of exhibitions do you conduct?

Sonia: Every time, we try to be different. We don’t repeat stuff. Second, we attempt to tap different markets. The recent one had luxurious handbags and various other women accessories, catering the upper middle class of Jaipur.

JWB: Was the response good?

Vibha: It was excellent. If you want to know about the profits, we can boldly say we’re very satisfied. (Chuckles)

JWB: Which one of you came up with the idea of selling luxury brands in the Pink city? Have you done any market research?

Sonia: Not really. If you observe, we don’t have any big luxury brand selling in our city. Though, there are hundreds of counterfeits. People, who have a thing for luxury items, go to Delhi or Mumbai to visit the showroom of brands like Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Fendi, Armani, Jimmy Choo, Valentino, Céline, Chanel, Versace, Tods, etc. I got in touch with this company called LXRY based in Mumbai that agreed to supply us their products. We stocked them in our home, and that’s how saved the storeroom rent.

Vibha: Not only this, we turned Sonia’s huge drawing room into the exhibition hall. A little shift of the sofa and we’re all set! To make sure we get the footfall, we sent the invites to all our friends.

JWB: You guys are smart!

Sonia: And we make a smart team, too!

JWB: We’re all ears. Go on, tell us about it!

Vibha: Sonia is good at selecting quality fabrics, and I run a boutique. In this way, we get to share the customer-base, also.

Sonia: We’ve already started preparing for our next exhibition. It’s a rough idea wherein we’ll invite women to a rooftop get-together, at our home, of course. We’ll have a nice barbeque with some wine, maybe. Who wouldn’t love to shop when surrounded by such an ambiance?

JWB: You guys totally enjoy working together, don’t you?

Vibha: Yes! Along with enjoying, we learn new things together. With these exhibitions, we’ve mastered managing finances in a better way. Also, we’ve understood the value of commitments and time.

Sonia: At that, we’ve determined not to underestimate ourselves and agree on less profit.

JWB: Commendable! What about the other members of your team?

Sonia: Who said we have got a team? The two of us are enough to handle the workload and share the limelight. (Giggles)

Vibha: To keep us going, we have our beautiful families as our support system. They are our critics, as well as, consultants.

JWB: We wish you all the very best.