INSPIRED BY entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, Yogesh Chaudhary, director of Jaipur Rugs, did what they did—dropped out of college. But instead of starting up, he joined the family business at 19 to assist his father, following losses due to a robbery and resignation of several senior executives. The first decision was to prioritise exports and expand beyond U.S. into Middle East, Germany, Europe and South Asia. In 2016, Jaipur Rugs forayed into retail and now sells in more than 90 countries. “We sell to some of the world’s high-end brands. When we entered consumer space, we realised innovation needs to be faster,” says Chaudhary. The company collaborates with designers such as Shantanu Garg and Gauri Khan. The artisanal rugs are a result of nurturing of 40,000 artisans in 600 villages of five states over 50 years. About 90% are women weavers. In fact, Jaipur Rugs did not opt for middleman-owned looms and instead granted weavers ownership of looms, disrupting the age-old practice of transporting artisans to factories, eliminating the need for large manufacturing set-ups. Leveraging technology, it launched the “Tana Bana App” in 2018 which maintains a comprehensive repository of work hours. The brand’s ethos is built on empathy, kindness, happiness and, most important, transparency.
Despite geopolitical tensions which disrupted supply chains, it achieved a turnover of ₹766 crore in FY22. In FY23, it grew another 18% to ₹920 crore. The company aims to open 35 more stores in five years. Yogesh continues his father’s commitment to social impact, attributing much of Jaipur Rugs’ success to the people-centric model established by Nand Kishore Chaudhary in 1978. “What keeps me going is the impact the business has on peoples’ lives,” he says. — Urvashi Mishra