Parveen Sikandar

For Patricia Narayanan, food is bread and butter—in a cryptic way as well. That’s because, the middle-­aged Chennaiite runs a restaurant, a food court in a mall and the canteen of an IT major. The same metro has, on a quiet and leafy avenue of Kotturpuram, a much-sought-after name for stylish fashion jewellery that does not burn a hole in your pockets. That is Damini, again, the creation of another woman’s inspiration and hard work.

- G.C. Shekhar

The showroom, located three km away from the gold market of bustling T. Nagar, is still located in the car shed where it had begun 15 years ago. “I was in Malaysia—and returned to India after my husband had died suddenly when I was only 27 with a small boy,” recalls Parveen Sikandar, 43. Today, her shop has a clientele that includes celebrities. It has eight outlets in three other southern cities, employs 30 people and has grown into a Rs-3 crore business.

The businesswoman in her had sprung to the fore even when she had gone to Malaysia as a young bride. She sourced a hundred silk pouches from near Madurai to sell during a fair of her son’s International School. “Each bag cost only Rs 10, but on the suggestion of a friend I fixed the price at $10. Yet all the bags were purchased. I was thrilled.”

But the next year, the same product had only a few takers. “That taught me a lesson: in fashion, people always look for new stuff. Today, I change my designs once in 45 days. That is one reason why Damini has a fresh collection when a customer returns after a small break.” Another unwritten rule is to pay her suppliers without any delay.