This is the inspirational story of a young lady’s successful entrepreneurial journey. Sandhya is exemplary for the kind of passion she demonstrated, for her very rational approach to entrepreneurship and for the fact that she fought depression channelizing all the personal setbacks into creating her own venture – Dessert Rose.

 The desire to tread on a path less travelled and a passion to follow her dreams is what made Sandhya Sureshkumar a successful entrepreneur.

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, business kind of runs in her blood. Yet Sandhya in her initial years followed a more predictable path. After completing her master’s in business administration, she secured a plum job in a multinational company. Managing human resources was her forte and within a short span of time, she excelled in her job. She won performance awards in her company and was even being considered for a promotion. There was no stopping her bright corporate career. Yet there was something amiss. Having always wanted to create her own venture, she yearned for something else. However, leaving a secure corporate job, especially when she was doing so well was a big risk. It was never going to be an easy decision.

FOLLOW YOUR HEART, LISTEN TO YOUR MIND

Sandhya’s case is exemplary for young millennial men and women for many reasons. She not only displayed the courage to follow her heart but at the same time adopted a very rational approach towards entrepreneurship. Sandhya did not want to join her father’s business has always wanted to do something that she was passionate about. It took some time for introspection to explore what she really wanted to do. Talking to her father who was a successful businessman himself and her other family members also helped. Finally, she knew what she wanted to do. She always had this love for cakes and baked products and converting that into a business venture was a natural choice. However, starting a patisserie and running it successfully would require more than just a dream.

DREAM TO REALITY

And so, Sandhya started her quest for transforming her dream into a reality. She did thorough research and talked to many people in similar businesses and those owning restaurants. Her research made it clear that any food business was a very labour centric business and the kitchen was the most critical link in the whole game. Chefs were hard to retain and restaurants who are not able to retain the good ones run to ground very soon. 

Such dependency on a new patisserie would be risky and could jeopardize the venture. When most new entrepreneurs focus on gathering investment, choosing a location, Sandhya instead focused on the most critical link in the business that could have a make or break impact once she started her venture. She decided to get professionally trained in baking herself and for that, she chose the best institution offering a six-month certification. Getting admission in this institution was not easy as it generally had a long waitlist queue of wannabe bakers wanting to join the course. Sandhya did not lose her patience and finally enrolled herself in the course, even though she had to wait before her batch could commence. A grueling training schedule instilled in her a sense of discipline. She recalls the day she hurt her foot and called her institute to report sick. But instead, she was asked not to miss the practical class with a senior chef. She spent the whole day in the kitchen standing on one foot and hobbling around. But it taught her a very important lesson, the discipline that one needed to run the kitchen and despite the odds, the show must go on.

After completing her course, she joined a patisserie and worked to gain actual field experience. She worked both in the kitchen and also in the front office for an equal duration of time. In the meantime, she arranged for the seed capital, scouted for the location of her store, and did the rest of the preparation. Her dream finally saw the dawn of reality when Sandhya started her own patisserie Dessert Rose. In a short span of time, Sandhya’s hard work and creativity have made her patisserie Dessert Rose one of most sought cake destinations in the city of Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India.

FIGHTING DEPRESSION

Sandhya suffered a personal low while she was still working as HR in the MNC, plunging her into depression. Her entrepreneurial journey helped her not only to fight her depression but also to emerge out of it. She channelized all the negativity around her into her venture and emerged victorious. 

Today Sandhya besides running her patisserie, conducts baking classes for others. She dreams of expanding the presence of Dessert Rose in the malls and beyond. The journey has just started after all. 

Everyday Sandhya goes to her patisserie, she feels she is baking a dream for herself and for her customers. In her short journey as an entrepreneur she has become a role model for all those young women who aspire and dream.