Jugaad’ is an Indian term worthy of a mention in the Oxford dictionary. The literal translation of jugaad would be resourcefulness against all odds. But, it’s much more than that. It’s a fundamental life skill required to negotiate the sinuous walks of Indian life (especially Government offices). 24-year-old Huzefa Siamwala put it to good use to build his company PureNexus without taking a single paisa from his father, friends or the banks. Indian Online Seller (IOS) caught up with this avid mountaineer recently to find out how he scaled the e-commerce summit with derring-do and good old-fashioned jugaad.
Huzefa: It was July 2012 and I was back from a climb in the Himalayas. Google had announced the Nexus 7 tablet and I searched for it on the Internet. I found out that no one was selling it in India yet. So I thought, why not sell it in India? I had done some research previously on how I could import fabrics for outdoor gear in bulk from the USA in the most cost effective way. I needed it for some new adventure gear designs I had in mind. This came in handy and I was confident that I would be able to import the tablets. So, I listed the Nexus 7 tablet on ebay. I got an amazing response. I got more than 20 orders in one week.
![[Seller Interview] How a 24 Year Old Built a Solid Online Selling Business](http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02260/nexustablet_2260890b.jpg)
Google Nexus 7 Tablet Launched [Image courtesy: telegraph.co.uk]
Huzefa: Yes, I knew it was a risk and quickly realized it was a big mistake to list so many pieces. I was tempted because the margin was very good. I went to my Dad to borrow some money but he was not interested and I was not able to arrange the capital needed to import them. I had to cancel all the orders.
Huzefa: Yeah! I said to myself, these guys seem to like the product so why not ask for some advances offline in lieu of a discount. I tried my best to explain my situation to the customers. Most of them refused but incredibly two of them agreed. I guess they really loved the Nexus 7. They paid me an advance and I fulfilled their order within two weeks.
Huzefa: The news spread through word of mouth and I got more orders similarly. I set up a Facebook page for my company – PureNexus. I set up a Facebook cart (ecwid) and linked it to my Paypal account. I got a lot of enquiries on my FB page through the ebay listing and sold many tablets through my FB store.
Huzefa: No, far from it because ebay closed my account. I started a new account which was also linked but ebay closed that one too. So I decided to focus on selling through my FB page. I also set up a website using WordPress and WooCommerce.
Huzefa: Honestly, I just wanted to make some money to fund my next expedition to the Himalayas. Which I did. J. I was still in college, studying mathematics and didn’t have a job or any work experience to do so.
Huzefa: Well, I wouldn’t know because I dropped out and didn’t complete my graduation. My heart lies in the mountains and when I got a chance to go for an expedition to Mt. Kamet, the third highest mountain in India, I went for it. From February – June 2013, I was skiing, training and went on the expedition. All self-funded. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy math. But I love the outdoors.
![[Seller Interview] How a 24 Year Old Built a Solid Online Selling Business](https://indianonlineseller.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/huzefa_mountaineering.png)
Huzefa in the mountains
Huzefa: Before going on the expedition, I set up a new ebay account in my brother’s name and avoided previous mistakes. It was slow and steady but the response was great. Once I left for the mountains, my brother took over customer service and handling of orders. I was back in July 2013 and Google had already launched the new Nexus 7 model. This time, I managed to raise some capital from a friend and things got rolling quickly. I must admit, I have made a cool profit in the past two months.
Huzefa’s success is truly an astonishing tale of enterprise and street-smartness. Being from a humble background, Huzefa experimented with e-commerce only to fund his love for the mountains. Unknowingly, his marketing strategy hit the bull’s eye.
IOS interacts with a lot of online sellers and often, we see that individual sellers are novices and experimenters who learn quickly from their mistakes and become successful. While the global e-commerce biggies make a beeline for a share of the Indian wallet, IOS believes that the enterprising individual seller too will play a significant role in shaping the Indian online space. Huzefa’s story is a sneak peek into the immense potential and possibilities of e-commerce in our country.
By the way, Huzefa has sold more than 500 hundred phones single-handedly in the last year and a half. He came. He sold. He conquered.
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