The government is definitely supporting the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), however the speed is very slow and in such a fast changing world where a smartphone gets obsolete in 1 year, the speed needed is several times more and unless this happens, it will slow down the entire ecosystem and will also not help the economy, says Umang Srivastava, Joint Managing Director, Bonita in an exclusive interview to SME Times. He said, "I guess the keywords that the government needs to focus on are Speed, easy access to information and Easy execution of schemes available."

He also talked about the challenges, which are facing by SMEs, he said, "In Indian market SMEs are facing various challenges like no access to funds and adequate information. The growth path of a successful SME is generally fast and adequate financial support is not available to fund the growth of such SMEs. Banks are very slow and too bureaucratic in responding to the needs which ultimately leads to frustration and slower growth and this is one of the reasons why many SMEs have to go to growth funds/ Angel investors to fund their growth. However, such equity route is expensive and also takes away the free thinking thought process and innovation from the SMEs."

Excerpts of the interview...

Please tell us something about your group?
Umang Srivastava Casa Brands India (P) Ltd owns the leading home utility products brand Bonita. The company was established in the year 2007. Until 2012, Casa Brands was serving only international consumers under laundry care, storage and organizing category. Bonita was launched in the same year (2012), when we realized that the Indian consumer does not have access to good quality household products in laundry/organizing and storage category. Since space is becoming a big problem for everyone especially in the cities and large towns of India, we launched Bonita so that the Indian consumer can live a better life by using Bonita products.

In a very short period of a little more than 2 years, Bonita has emerged as the brand leader in Home Utility products in India and is available through 1000+ stores across India and also through major online websites like Amazon, Pepperfry, Fabfurnish, Snapdeal, Homeshop18, etc, and through Modern retail Stores like Shoppers Stop, Home Stop, Hypercity, Viveks, etc. We have also tied up with Bajaj and Godrej for consumer offers for their washing machines and Irons where Bonita products are going in the consumer offers. Apart from India, Bonita has also ventured into international markets under our own brand and we are present in USA and New Zealand.

How do you see Indian market for your international brand?
Umang Srivastava:The Indian market is a huge and untapped market for us because no brand has understood and created products in our category for the Indian consumers. This is also one of the reasons Bonita’s products which have been specially thought out and created for the Indian market have been so well received and this has led Bonita to get to a leadership position so soon. Our products are needed by all households and with our reach even less than 1% right now, the potential is immense.

Being a SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) how difficult it was to enter in international market with so much of competition?
Umang Srivastava:The journey has been quite challenging till now because Bonita is trying to break into the market dominated by unorganized and cheap products which have no styling or quality element and the customer had never thought that Ironing boards, Cloth dryers or Shoe racks can also be beautiful and match the decor of the house. However, all Bonita products have definitely got very good respect and response from the Indian consumers who value styling and quality. Our biggest asset has been our belief and our team who has worked very hard to achieve what would have been an impossible task for any SME.

You had started your company with the thought of a women who did not get quality products for their Home Utility. Could you please share that story with our readers?
Umang Srivastava:We have been working with several international brands in this category since 2007 and we realized that all our family and friends always used to ask us as to why these products were not available in India and how can they get them. This led us to think and research the market and we realized that there was a huge gap in the market for good quality and good styling products in Home Utility category. We also found that whatever products were available were not easy to use and occupied a lot of space and were not women-friendly. So we decided that we create a solution for this and this was how Bonita was born. At Bonita, we ensure that all our products are of world class quality, are very easy and comfortable to use especially for women, can be folded and stored easily and take minimal space when not in use. Apart from all of this, they also need to be “Bonita” which means pretty in Spanish, so that they can match to the de cor of your house.

You had faced both the markets India and as well as abroad what are the basic difference you had seen in both of them? And what strategy you follow to overcome that issue?
Umang Srivastava:The biggest difference between Indian and International markets is that Indian consumers do not know that such products exist which can help them live a better and much easier life wrt to their daily household work. This leads to increased need of communicating the concept to the Indian consumer through various media. This is not the case in International markets where the consumer already knows about the products and they are looking out to buy these products. The second major difference is that in India, major business happens through the Independent stores who do not have the space to stock all the merchandise properly whereas in the International markets, all goods are sold through Modern retail chains where the products are displayed properly due to adequate space being available for the products and this helps in increasing sales and awareness about the products.

For India, we followed the strategy of developing the Dealer/Distributor network first and this led us to reach out the a larger customer base spread all over India and we quickly reached 1000+ stores in these 2 years. Then we expanded into online and then into Modern retail space. This helped us get better reach and also get brand acceptability across all channels. For the International market, we have worked on the concept of setting up our own office in the country and working with the retailers directly for larger countries like USA. For countries like New Zealand and Australia, we have appointed distributors who are in turn distributing Bonita products through online and offline retail platforms in that country.

Would you like to share some major challenges of SMEs in India?
Umang Srivastava:The biggest challenge is availability of funds and availability of right information for various benefits. Even though the government is doing a lot of work to help the SMEs and it is really appreciated, the growth path of a successful SME is generally fast and adequate financial support is not available to fund the growth of such SMEs. Banks are very slow and too bureaucratic in responding to the needs which ultimately leads to frustration and slower growth and this is one of the reasons why many SMEs have to go to growth funds/Angel investors to fund their growth. However, such equity route is expensive and also takes away the free thinking thought process and innovation from the SME.

Do you think Indian govt. is supporting SMEs in their best way? If no would you like to suggest some thing to our government for the welfare of Indian SMEs?
Umang Srivastava:The government is definitely supporting the SMEs, however the speed is very slow and in such a fast changing world where a smartphone gets obsolete in 1 year, the speed needed is several times more and unless this happens, it will slow down the entire ecosystem and will also not help the economy. I guess the keywords that the government needs to focus on are Speed, easy access to information and Easy execution of schemes available.

Recently you have tied up with world's largest e-commerce platform - Amazon.in. How is your experience of working with them?
Umang Srivastava:The experience with Amazon has been very good till now and I am sure that they will be an important player in the market along with Flipkart, Snapdeal and other online websites who are also pushing aggressively in the Indian market. The e-commerce business for Bonita is also growing at a very fast pace and customers are buying a lot of products online. Also, many expats who live in India prefer to buy through Amazon due to their experience in international markets and it makes it easier for us to reach out to such customers who are already aware of the product category and buy our products regularly.