Today, we step into Raksha Bandhan – the festival that celebrates the bond between a brother and a sister.
Saluting this bond, we take a look at business ventures run by siblings, and we all know that siblings definitely know each other like no other. Sometimes they can indeed, back each other and run a flourishing business too. We have identified a number of brother-sister duos, who prove that, in some cases, business acumen does run in the family!
Here are some business-oriented siblings have entered the world of entrepreneurship, and aren’t they impressive!
- Slideshare: Amit Ranjan and Rashmi Sinha teamed up in 2006 and started Slideshare, which is a sharing platform for business documents, videos and presentations. Anyone can share presentations and video here and this platform serves as a social discovery platform for users to find relevant content and connect with other members who share similar interests. The company was acquired by Linkedln in 2012 for $119 million in cash and stock. Today it is the world’s largest community for sharing presentations.
- Citrus Hotels: Gaurav Goenka and Sucheta Goenka came up with the idea of ‘mid-segment hotels’. The duo have clear-cut roles defined – Gaurav is involved with the acquisition and investment aspects and Sucheta looks after the management side.
- Red Spokes Cycling: Zubin Jagtiani and Shaina Jagtiani – the brother-sister duo, who wants people to slow down, cycle and appreciate the world around them. This company promotes cycling for fun and leisure. The idea is to get people to appreciate the food, the geography and the local customs of every destination- with the whole experience being enhanced by the mode of transport – a bicycle.
- Vijayalakshmi Natural Farms Private Limited: Started by Suresh Nanjan and (Late) Vijaylaxmi. Suresh with his sister aimed to work on the problems of Nilgiri tea farmers. Although he lost his sister to a massive stroke in 2009, he continued to work towards their goal. The company has two major products, Teaneer, exclusive handcrafted Nilgiris teas and Thaleer, fresh vegetables.
- Kyazoonga: Neetu Bhatia and Akash Bhatia (along with Arpita Majumdar) are the brains behind it. It is an e-ticketing company that has carved a niche in the USD$1 billion non-movie ticketing segment. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount of funding in the startup in 2016.
- Inc.5: Almas Nanda, Founder, and Amin Virji, Managing Director at Inc.5 are the people behind the well-known brand. Almas Nanda started Inc.5 in 1998, to offer stylish footwear to women. The main difference was that the product did not compromise on comfort. Almas works alongside with her brother and started a 100sqft store in Heera Panna Shopping Center in Mumbai. The background is that their grandfather had launched ‘Regal Shoes’ in 1954, which was a family-run business. Exploring new opportunities in the untapped footwear market, Inc.5 was launched.
- R K Jewellers: Founded by Rakesh Sharma and his wife, Sunita, in Delhi in 1995 to offer customers with the best gold and diamond jewellery designs in the market. Then, it was taken up by the second generation – their children Rohan and Prakshi, to build and take the brand to the next level. Today, the brand comprises of diamond and polki jewellery, and appeals to women of all age groups. In 2014, the brother-sister duo took the decision to attract the millennial segment – with the launch of another label, Prakshi Fine Jewellery.
- Campus Sutra: This apparel comprises of customised T-shirts, pants and accessories for college and university students. This apparel label is run by siblings Sonal Agarwal, Aditya Agarwal, Khusbhoo Agarwal and her husband Dhiraj Agarwal.
Avtar Madan
Himanshu
Shree Lahiri
