1. Varun Balasubramanyan
My Entrepreneural Venture
I want to bring to the attention of the Admission Committee the
entrepreneurial venture that I established in Dec 2012.
▪ Set up Jasmine Experts Flower Trading LLC, a small
business for retail & trading of fresh Indian flowers in UAE.
▪ Initial investment was Euro26,000 (took a loan from my
parents and eventually returned in 3 years)
▪ I successfully managed the business until I sold it to a
strategic investor in June 2018
▪ Understanding the fundamentals for building a successful
business is one of the reasons that I want to pursue my
professional career in venture capital after my MBA at IE
Business School.
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2. Varun Balasubramanyan
Why venture? Why this venture?
▪ To learn and experience different aspects of managing a
business. My aim was to create a unique business model and
make significant difference through innovations and efficient
management.
▪ I selected retail sector as it is relatively more resilient if
managed well.
▪ I decided on this particular venture after due consideration of
various factors.
▫ Niche business opportunity
▫ Few players with limited market reach
▫ Untapped demand (large Indian community in UAE
accounting for 30% of total UAE population)
▫ Smaller investment, High margins and Scalability
▫ Could manage the business with reasonable time I could
allocate (as I was involved in my studies)
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3. Varun Balasubramanyan
Sourcing Strategy
▪ Success of the business depended on efficient sourcing of flowers from
India to UAE.
▪ Major portion of my initial research was devoted to address the challenges
related to sourcing perishable products.
• Ensure quality of products at the time of procurement
• Timely scheduling of air shipments
• Reduce wastage in transport
• Extend shelf life of products in UAE
▪ I identified a procurement agent in Chennai, India whom I later engaged
to work full time for our business. Coordinated closely with him to develop
creative solutions to address the above mentioned problems
▪ After initial hiccups, sourcing was streamlined
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4. Varun Balasubramanyan
Building the Brand
▪ Positioning strategy: Positioned the brand as high
quality, by providing consistently high quality product in
attractive packaging and superior customer experience
▪ Pricing strategy: Followed premium pricing strategy
(high price high quality)
▪ Digital Marketing Tools: Used digital marketing tools
extensively, ran targeted social media campaigns to
extend the market reach, brand awareness and image
▪ Promotional campaigns: Ran strategic promotions
focusing on senior citizens and women customers and
on week (weak) days
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www.jasminexperts.com
5. Varun Balasubramanyan
Innovation Strategy
▪ Product development: Developed value added products and
custom designed products such as flower jewellery,
combination of Indian and European flowers (first time in UAE)
▪ Storage optimization: Set up a chiller room (first time in UAE)
that helped in reducing wastage and decreasing shipment cost
▪ Innovative packaging: Developed novel box type packaging
synonymous with high quality products
▪ Well-designed product display: Arranged elegant, yet
functionally effective, display system ensuring product
freshness and at the same time attractive for customers
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6. Varun Balasubramanyan
Management of People
▪ Total staff size was 6 including a Manager, 4 Florists and
1 Delivery & Clearance staff, besides temporary staffs
hired to handle additional load during peak season.
▪ To begin with, I worked closely with the Manager and
delegated all responsibilities except finance which I
continued to manage.
▪ Initially, there were issues among the staff members due
to lack of understanding. I intervened and made them
realize that they should work as a team. I ensured
healthy work environment.
▪ Set up a corpus fund from the profits dedicated for the
education and healthcare of the children of the staff
members living in their hometowns
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7. Varun Balasubramanyan
Growth Strategy
▪ Having established the customer base comprising
mainly of Indian households in and around Dubai, I
focused on strategies to expand into other segments.
▫ Institutional customers (Event Managers, Wedding
Planners, …)
▫ Corporate customers
▫ Bulk Resellers
▫ Export customers (Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, ..)
▪ Developed strategy to focus on Arabic households.
Ran extensive Facebook campaigns targeting Arabic
households in the region, creating awareness of the
products.
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8. Varun Balasubramanyan
Performance Summary
▪ Average number of customers /month in 2017 was 4,200
▪ Total sales revenue in 2017 was Euro380,000
▪ Average sales growth of 54% per year during 2013 - 2017
▪ Breakeven was achieved in second year
▪ Divested the business to a strategic investor in June 2018
▪ Achieved an IRR of 49%
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Series2,
2013,
77.76
Series2,
2014,
174.96
Series2,
2015,
265.48
Series2,
2016,
336.07
Series2,
2017,
380.78
Euro‘000s
Sales Revenues
9. Varun Balasubramanyan
Divestment Process
▪ At the time of starting the business, I had planned to exit after 5
years to pursue my professional career. Accordingly, I started
the divestment process by mid 2017.
▪ Retail sector in UAE was facing severe pressure due to
introduction of VAT from Jan 2018.
▪ I compiled an Information Memorandum outlining the investment
opportunity and contacted selected potential buyers.
▪ After few negative responses, I identified an overseas investor
who had a strategic interest in the business.
▪ Subsequent to few negotiation rounds, he agreed on a price
within my expected range.
▪ A professional firm engaged by the buyer conducted financial
and legal due diligence.
▪ After satisfactory completion of the legal paperwork, I handed
over the business to the buyer.
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10. Key Takeaways
Ability to manage
people
Gained excellent opportunity to
manage, motivate and inspire staff
team
Time management
Realized the importance of
planning and prioritizing in order
to achieve desired results
Understand mindset of
Entrepreneur
First hand experience of an
entrepreneur ‘s outlook
Decision Making
Had many opportunities for
making decisions with comercial
implications
Understanding
Responsibilities
Responsibilities associated with
owning and managing a
business
Positive Impact
Opportunity to make positive
impact on people, companies and
society as a whole
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