Ranodeep built a website to start with and started renting small spaces at local shops and outlets to display his products
Ranodeep Saha
Around six years ago, first-year engineering student Ranodeep Saha, all of 17, started hand-painting earthen kulhads and selling them at various school and college fests.
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“Once I happened to visit Thailand with my parents and observed the various curio shops at the airport. All of the products were made either in China or the US. It made me wonder why none of the items had a Made in India tag!” says Ranodeep Saha.
Today, his start-up Rare Planet is a leading handicraft retail chain present in all major airports and cities of India! What started with hand-painted clay kulhads, has scaled up exponentially! With whatever he earned by selling the kulhads at small fests, Ranodeep built a website to start with and started renting small spaces at local shops and outlets to display his products.
With these small steps, sales grew, and so did the scale of operations at Rare Planet. Ranodeep soon started hiring a few helping hands and setting up small kiosks at larger book stores and retail outlet chains. Especially during the Durga Pujas (the biggest festival in West Bengal) and the festive season, the sales started doing extremely well.
Soon after, Rare Planet attracted funding from various Government and private sources, which further catalyzed its growth.
On being asked about the impact of Covid-19 on the business, Ranodeep says “Initially things did look gloomy! But we managed to sail through, making the best use of marketing campaigns. We also started generating continued employment for our artisans by starting to manufacture masks and sanitizers. We even got a round of funding from a couple of venture capitalists recently. What started out as a threat has turned into a galore of opportunities for the business.”
Rare Planet recently launched its newest airport store at the Varanasi airport this month. “It was a fantastic opening. We're totally expecting an outstanding performance from this city!” says Saha.
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