Work Store, formerly Staples.in (Staples Future Office Products Ltd) is into the B2B sales of everything for the office products and stationaries. The company was founded in 2007 and is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Staples Future Office Products Pvt. Ltd. was formed as a joint venture between Staples Inc. and Pantaloon Retail India Ltd.
Team BWDisrupt interacts with Shailesh Karwa, CEO, Work Store and spoke to himShailesh has worked with Tata Group as a domain specialist in financial trading & settlement engines encompassing decision support for derivatives trading, risk management and straight-through processing; with onsite stints in Morgan Stanley, London and Bear Stearns, New York.
He holds a bachelor’s’ degree in finance & accounting & a vocational degree in advertising from the Mumbai University. He has done his MBA in entrepreneurship from S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research. Shailesh has studied corporate and companies law with a qualification of ACS with ICSI, Delhi
Shailesh likes a culture of execution and ‘strategy which is long on the detail and short on the vision’
Excerpts from the interview:
How did you decide to start your business?
We decided to start our business when we saw the need for a professional service provider to serve business customers for all their office and work-space requirements.
Why does your business exist? (what is the mission, vision you have for your business? How do you see you will be making the difference with your business model?)Mission: To be the #1 business to business ecommerce company in India measured by sales, profitability and customer service.
Our business exists to help our customers achieve greater productivity in their respective businesses by saving them time and cost.
What is the biggest success you have experienced so far?Our biggest success has been our ability to persuade a lot of large and mid-sized Indian business customers apart from all the multi-national business customers. We pride ourselves in our ability to retain them over several years.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced so far?Our biggest challenge in the market is the wide-spread unethical practises by local and unorganized vendors. We need to compete with vendors who use unfair means to win customers by providing favors to key influencers and decision makers, provide counterfeit products, overcharge by short deliveries and substituting brands with local products.
If you could go back in time, what would you have done differently?If I could go back in time, I would have not changed anything. I have truly enjoyed the journey and look forward to every challenge as it comes.
Do you have a mentor /person you look up to for advice (person you admire)? Who is that?I look up to my Grand-father, who mentored me and has been an inspirational grass-roots entrepreneur.
If you would give advice to fellow startup CEO’s what would that be?I would advice them to focus on execution by detailing the big picture and following through with specific actions. In India, it is important to be patient, focussing on the sustainability of the business model by investing in profitable growth and not compromising on governance.
