Chitralekha Das' Success Story: Dreamt Big At 60 And Created A Business Helping Artisans

Pursuing her hobby and creativity while daring to take a risk at the age of 60 and prove that age is just a number. Chitralekha Das, the self-made entrepreneur is one of those people who have charted her own path of success defying all odds. When Chitralekha Das started her startup journey, she was 60 years old and a grandmother of two. However, this did not hold her back and she went on to become a successful entrepreneur with her saree brand Sujatra surviving initial struggles and challenges.

Who Is Chitralekha Das?

Born in Agartala (Tripura) in the year 1954 to Pratima Das & Bansibadan Das, Chitralekha Das was fond of creating designs since her childhood. She pursued a career in music & became a successful music teacher, while being a mother of two young children, she kept on pursuing artistic skills such as painting, jewellery designing, etc. However, the colourful world of painting inspired her journey as a saree designer as she experimented with colours all the time.

The Logic Behind 'Sujatra' Name

The name Sujatra is an amalgamation of 3 names - Sushmita - Sujata & Chitra. Chitralekha Das is the founder of Sujatra & Sushmita & Sujata are her daughters-in-law. Su-jatra, if broken down may also be construed as a beautiful (Su) journey (Yatra) of creativity and passion.  

Chitralekha Das' Struggle And Initial Journey

Making space in the highly competitive women's wear segment was absolutely not easy but it was neither impossible. Like any other startup challenges were part n parcel of her business which she tackled with grace and charm. Just like any other startup, one of the key challenges faced by her many was a shortage of funds. In her own words, "All we had to go on was a little saving, and a lot of ideas & enthusiasm. There was no separate space, so our 2 BHK got converted to a 1 BHK. There was no money to hire people so my husband, a retired Ministry of Defence Official, assumed the duty of warehouse & dispatch incharge. Tailors were not willing to work unless there was sufficient work for the whole month and above that, we had no particular connections to source fabrics from."

She then turned to exhibitions and started building relationships with the vendors who would come to participate in those exhibitions. Gaining experience in the exhibitions which was the building block, Das entered the e-commerce business. The brand built its own website and caught up with digital marketing techniques all for themselves.

A Startup With Helping Hand

Since Sujatra deals with Indian crafts, Indian fabrics & Indian designs its core strengths are tailors and artisans. Sujatra's entire work revolves around fabrics, artworks, craftsmanship, embroidery, painting & tailoring and its products feature intricate Indian paintings like Kalamkari, Madhubani, and Gond tribal art. They also feature intricate works like Ikat, Batik, Kutchi mirror work, Indigo, and many other forms of block prints and embroidery. 

"We understand how difficult, intricate & time-consuming it is to make what our talented artisans come up with. With our designs, we are doing justice to their hard work & talent. We are inspiring them to think out of the box, we are discussing with them to create something new & contemporary & sharing our knowledge of the retail market with them," she shared. Das hopes to inspire regular people & not just the family of artisans to choose the line of craftsmanship & make this a lucrative vocation someday. She is also making youth aware of our rich cultural heritage.

At present, Sujatra functions with a small team of 10 direct employees but has a contract manufacturing setup employing nearly 100+ tailors, masters embroidery workers and painters. While Sujatra managed to mop up a business worth Rs 60 lakhs in the first year of operation, it aims to reach Rs 20 crore in FY24. Chitralekha Das' story is not only an inspiration but also an example if you are passionate about what you do and believe in what you are delivering.