Ashnam Success Story: Crafting Creativity and Elegance in Polyresin Décor

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Ashnam.

The handicrafts and figurines industry is a fascinating and diverse sector that showcases the creativity and craftsmanship of skilled artisans. From intricately designed handicrafts that reflect cultural heritage to elegant figurines that add charm to any space, this industry offers a wide array of exquisite creations. With a focus on preserving traditional art forms and embracing modern design sensibilities, the industry continuously evolves to cater to changing tastes and preferences. Each piece crafted with passion tells a unique story, making the world of home décor and handicrafts a captivating and timeless realm of art and beauty.

A name making remarkable strides in this field is Ashnam, a brand specializing in figurines, home décor products, wall décor items, and more.

In this article, explore the journey of Ashnam, its founder, products, challenges, and more.

Ashnam - Company Highlights

Ashnam - About
Ashnam - Industry
Ashnam - Founders and Team
Ashnam - Startup Story
Ashnam - Vision and Mission
Ashnam - Name and Logo
Ashnam - Product/Service
Ashnam - Business Model
Ashnam - Customer Acquisition Strategies
Ashnam - Growth
Ashnam - Challenges Faced
Ashnam - Funding
Ashnam - Acquisitions
Ashnam - Tools and Technology
Ashnam - Competitors
Ashnam - Future Plans

Ashnam - About

Ashnam, a prominent and innovative brand in the Indian home décor and figurine market, has been serving as a leading polyresin figurine manufacturer and white-label supplier to modern retail outlets throughout India. Established in 2012 by Manoj Kumar Sharma, the company takes pride in crafting exquisite polyresin artifacts with unique designs. With an extensive product range of over 260 distinctive items and more than 2700 SKUs, Ashnam caters to a wide price spectrum.

Ashnam - Industry

The company operates in the Indian handicraft and figurine industry, which is highly unorganized, and there are thousands of units manufacturing such products in almost every state of India. The unstructured nature of the market has resulted in the absence of formal data gathering, and quoting any verified or accurate numbers related to market size would not be possible at this point.

However, when we talk about the organized sector of modern retail of handicrafts, the segment that we aim to transform and expand, the overall market size is estimated to be about INR 1,000 crore per reliable and documented sources. We are just getting started by establishing a distribution company for the brand Ashnam to distribute our product lines.

Ashnam - Founders and Team

Manoj Kumar Sharma is the founder of Ashnam. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce (B.Com.). Manoj is the driving force behind the company's growth and success, leading it with dedication and expertise.

Manoj's close friend, Mona Sanghvi, became a co-founder of Ashnam after their marriage in 2017. With her qualification as an architect, Mona played a crucial role in the company's journey until her untimely demise in 2021. Since then, Manoj has been spearheading the business solely.

I firmly believe that Failure is the first step toward achievement. You put your best foot forward only once you see the first failure and are at your lowest. Post this step, a whole new world of possibilities opens up, said Manoj.

Ashnam's core team comprises individuals who have been with Manoj since the inception of the manufacturing unit in Vasai. He believes in providing training to his team members, regardless of their educational or demographic backgrounds. Their industry is such that a person who truly wants to learn can get trained in their manufacturing units and gradually scale up from there.

Manoj is committed to offering employment opportunities to those from the lower strata of society who may face challenges in finding jobs in corporate settings due to their educational backgrounds. However, the skills they learn from Ashnam empower them to earn their livelihoods with respect, and they can grow and earn the same perks and benefits that an organized corporate setup can provide over time. Despite an attrition rate of around 10% among new trainees, Ashnam continues to invest in training people, having successfully trained over 1,000 laborers in this segment over the last eight years.

Ashnam - Startup Story

Home décor is an exciting and high-potential market. Manoj, the founder of Ashnam, identified that the unorganized nature of the players in this arena had prevented brands from achieving true growth potential and hindered overall market growth. Ashnam was initially started as a trading company by Manoj in 2012, sourcing silver and gold-plated gift items and figurines from a Vasai-based manufacturer. The business served several high-profile clients, such as Vijaypat Singhania, for whom the gold-plated articles were refurbished in his private jet. Corporate clients included Archies, Waman Hari Pethe Sons, Dagdusheth Halwai Trust, and PNG Jewelers. However, a dispute with the manufacturer led to the shutdown of operations.

The second innings started when Manoj's wife, Mona (then a close friend and a qualified architect), reposed faith in his ideas and lent him INR 5 lakh. He resumed business with a different approach and set up an 800-square-foot manufacturing facility in Vasai with a small team. In 2017, Mona and Manoj got married, and she became a co-founder of Ashnam. By 2019, the business had proliferated, and a 7,000-square-foot space was rented in Vasai with an investment of INR 50 lakh to scale the business. However, the pandemic disrupted operations badly, and workers had to return to their villages in 2020. The scenario only got darker in April 2021, when Manoj lost his wife Mona to COVID-19, and he was utterly distraught. At one point, he even thought of shutting down Ashnam.

However, Manoj soon realized that by losing his way and hurting Ashnam's growth, he was also going to do injustice to his wife, Mona, as Ashnam had been a project she truly believed in. With renewed spirit and determination to advance with the objectives for which Ashnam was established, Manoj engaged with creditors, suppliers, and the whole team to rally their support. There has been no looking back since then, and within a short span of less than two years, Ashnam scaled to become a team of over 200 people.

Vedas Exports - Decor Products | Founder | Business Model | Revenue | Challenges

Founded by Palash Agrawal, Vedas Exports is one of the renowned exporters of handicrafts. It provides handmade bags, paintings, woodcraft, t-lights, and artifacts made of bell metal and wrought iron.

Rishabh RathiStartupTalky

Ashnam - Vision and Mission

Ashnam is a leading manufacturer of décor artifacts made from Polyresin in India. The company aims to transform the unorganized artifact manufacturing segment by introducing an unprecedented, organized sector approach and focusing on employee welfare and women's empowerment.

The long-term vision is to become a market-leading publicly traded company in the domain.

Ashnam - Name and Logo

The name "Ashnam" is a creative rearrangement of Manoj's name, derived by combining "ASH" from his surname Sharma with the first three letters of his first name, Manoj, forming NAM.

The logo was well thought out, and every element of the logo has a deeper meaning to it. It comprises five colors, with every color having a significance of its own:

• Brown: Mother Earth
• Green: Present
• Blue: Future (Sky's the Limit)
• Gold: Every product is unique and specially created
• Ash Grey: One day, everything ends in Ashes and returns to Mother Earth. The cycle of life and creation thus continues.

Ashnam - Product/Service

Ashnam is a brand specializing in figurines, home décor products, and wall décor items. Renowned for its expertise in manufacturing polyresin artifacts, Ashnam boasts a design bank of over 260 unique products and offers an extensive range of more than 2700 SKUs, with prices ranging from INR 599 to INR 1 lakh. The higher-end features the signature products of larger dimensions and enhanced appeal.

Ashnam - Business Model

Ashnam is India’s leading polyresin figurine manufacturer and white-label supplier to modern retail outlets throughout the country. It has a significant market presence, and the demand for its products is growing strongly as no other manufacturer can manufacture the products on the scale that Ashnam does. Ashnam operates on a collaborative model that focuses on making the products available at significant chain outlets as white-label goods and has a few stores under the brand Siddharas.

Ashnam is available in all Metro Cash and Carry outlets under the brand name Siddharas. As a white-label supplier, it serves many prominent brands such as Home Center, Shoppers Stop, Hometown, At Home, Royal Oak, Archies, Bombay Swadeshi Store, Eternal Gandhi by Aditya Birla, Homebox Dubai, etc.

Ashnam - Customer Acquisition Strategies

The first set of clients resulted from the pure hard sell and door-to-door presentations with samples. Once the products started circulating in the market, looking at the quality of the product and the detailing in production, Ashnam began getting references through word of mouth. Ashnam also started actively participating in home décor exhibitions in 2019, making its presence felt among the right set of people and eventually scaling up orders and business.

Ashnam - Growth

Ashnam focuses on growing the brand through collaborative product placement and serves as a market-leading supplier of white-label products to prominent players in the Indian home décor sector. The company is rapidly expanding its brand footprint across the country. In the longer term, Ashnam aims to go omnichannel and is already taking steps in that direction.

With a team of about 200 people, Ashnam operates from four manufacturing facilities spread across 40,000 square feet in Vasai. In FY23, the company achieved a revenue of INR 7 crore. Over the last eight years, Ashnam has successfully sold more than 15 lakh units in the Indian market.

Ashnam - Challenges Faced

Challenges are a part of every entrepreneur's life. Manoj has overcome several daunting hurdles. The first time he faced an existential challenge was when there were disputes with the manufacturer who used to produce the articles. Manoj decided to let go of that venture completely and start afresh, believing in his talent and capacity to reinvent space. His wife, Mona (then a friend), lent him INR 5 lakh, and he set up a small manufacturing unit in Vasai, 800 square feet, with a small team. Things scaled rapidly, and by 2019, operations had started from a 7000-square-foot space with a team size of 50+ after an investment of INR 50 lakhs in the business. That is when the pandemic disrupted everything, and the workers went back to their villages.

In April 2021, Manoj lost his wife and Ashnam co-founder to COVID-19, and it seemed to be all over. However, he drew inspiration from her faith in the vision and Ashnam and resumed operations with renewed vigor. Since then, it has been a quick journey, scaling one milestone after another. The biggest learning in all of this has been to take the first step and then the next. Only once you take the step does a whole new world of possibilities open up.

Challenges in Launching a Startup in Handicraft Sector

Craftezy’s founder shares his insights on the challenge faced while launching a startup in an unorganized market, like the handicrafts sector.

Jeenal JainStartupTalky

Ashnam - Funding

Ashnam is a bootstrapped company.

Ashnam - Acquisitions

Ashnam has acquired the brand Tansha Quo, which was involved in B2C operations.

Ashnam - Tools and Technology

Ashnam is renowned for its exquisite, handcrafted art and does not use any modern tools or technologies in the manufacturing process. As a modern retail brand, they embrace digital marketing platforms to create awareness and engage customers. Data analytics and design tools aid in market research and product ideation. Ashnam has integrated e-commerce tools to expand outreach and enhance customer service. Continuous investment in research and development leads to innovative raw materials and processes, elevating the quality and precision of their product line.

Ashnam - Competitors

The Indian home décor, sculptures, and figurines market is expansive and unorganized. Thousands of players with average team sizes of around 20 or more operate in various states nationwide. Most of these players work in local markets and through e-commerce marketplaces, and there is no specific brand they can name as a competitor considering the scale at which Ashnam operates. Thus, it is safe to say that Ashnam sees itself as its own competition and consistently raises the bar. This factor also defines and contributes to the fact that Ashnam has always been the sole supplier to many brands like Hometown, At Home, and Royal Oak over the last decade.

Ashnam - Future Plans

Ashnam has extensive plans to scale as a brand in the years ahead. With robust demand for products sold through Metro Cash and Carry under Siddharas and as white-label goods at several major home décor sector brands in India, they are also exploring other partnerships and opening new retail channels. The upcoming relaunch of their Tathastu brand by Archies is expected to significantly boost their market coverage. Ashnam is actively working on these initiatives and remains open to exploring new opportunities in the coming years.

FAQs

What is Ashnam?

Ashnam, a prominent and innovative brand in the Indian home décor and figurine market, has been serving as a leading polyresin figurine manufacturer and white-label supplier to modern retail outlets throughout India.

Who is the founder of Ashnam?

Manoj Kumar Sharma is the founder of Ashnam.

When was Ashnam established?

Ashnam was established in 2012.

What are Ashnam's products?

Ashnam is renowned for its expertise in crafting figurines, home décor products, and wall décor items from polyresin. With over 260 unique designs and a vast range of 2700+ SKUs, they offer exquisite and diverse products.