Entrepreneur duo Vinita and Vickas Passary have created several successful start-ups in food, fashion and retail across Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. Among their much admired labels are Anonym, Translate, Little Italy, SO — The Sky Kitchen and MOB.
Hailing from Rourkela, the steel city of Odisha, both had an eventful journey. After spending the early years of their career struggling in various fields at Rourkela, Raipur and Delhi, they reached Hyderabad to work along with their cousin. However, the instinct to create and follow their dreams made them start from scratch and they set off on their own about 15 years ago.
Vinita’s experience in fashion and retail and her commitment to revive arts, fused with an unrelenting attention to quality and detail has helped her carve a successful space in the clothing industry while Vickas, a self-made restaurateur complements her with his business acumen and eye for perfection. Both work together on ideas — “We dream, we debate, we work hard together, we feel sure only when we both say yes,” says Vickas.
Vinita has been working on her passion for many years now. What started in a garage in Raipur 18 years ago continued in Delhi and has now spread to her workshop and stores in Hyderabad and across India. While she had an eventful and self-taught journey, Vickas worked in various companies, then with relatives and finally moved on to his own venture about 15 years ago, when they started their first enterprise. “Our customers are very varied and of all age groups. They share a passion for textiles, good food and global trends, and having travelled and evolved, are looking for experiential clothing and food,” say the duo.
Both share that every day has something new to offer and teach. “The enterprises today are very dynamic. We have to keep evolving and dreaming — something which is very viable today may be unviable tomorrow. Hence, it is better to be open-minded and accept change. Follow your dreams. Listen to your own self before taking advice from others. We often get swayed by others’ opinion; however, at work it is more about your instinct, your passion and how you fuel it, so keep working hard,” advises Vinita. She continues, “We turned an idea into reality with patience, perseverance and a fighting spirit. All ideas don’t work and once we started executing them, we had to adjust and fine-tune them, but we never gave up.”
The two admit that the family has been indispensable in their success. Vinita recalls, “We have both spent countless days and nights working. There were days when Vickas used to come home only for a few hours.” Vickas adds, “Vinita was travelling every other week for a year after we started Translate. We felt the vacuum and missed each other on special days, but always stood by one other. And back home, it was our daughter Ahi who always recharged us.”
Interestingly, both don’t come from formal schools of food or fashion, and hence the challenges have been manifold. “We started with a small capital and found that implementing projects was always a challenge. We enjoyed creating and working on them, although it took us more time as we had to earn and then reinvest on our projects and dreams. We always thought of projects which were ahead of time for the city — be it experimental cuisine or alternate clothing. Hence, to get the right audience and sustain the business was always a challenge. Challenges exist even today,” they admit.
Running a business is extremely hard, reveals Vinita, “Our work involves dealing only with humans, so being in harmony and keeping everyone motivated is always challenging. We work on retail platforms like food or fashion, where we directly deal with the end consumer. We have to think afresh and keep adding new flavours to our enterprise, which is both challenging and fun.”
However, their path hasn’t always been smooth either. “Every day is not your day, when tough times come, one has to just stay calm,” says Vinita. The entrepreneur duo admits that they have grown since starting their entrepreneurial journey. “We feel more confident and there is also a deep sense of responsibility since it’s not just about us, but so many families making a livelihood along with us,” says Vickas.
