What subject do you teach and how does this relate to Kraftgurus?
Hi, my name is Nilanjana Sensarkar and I am the owner of Kraftgurus Limited. I am a legal academic by training. My area of specialism is Copyright Law, which is part of Intellectual Property Rights. At University of Greenwich (UoG) I have taught a variety of law subjects like, Contract Law, Business Law, International Trade Law and International Law Protecting Business Creativity (covers different kind of Intellectual Property Rights like Copyrights, Trademarks, Geographical Indications, Design Rights, etc). I have also taught business subjects like Business Ethics, Professional Practice in International Business & Economics, Foundations of Research and supervised both undergraduate and postgraduate students on their dissertation.
My qualifications and teaching-research experience have been extremely useful in establishing Kraftgurus Limited. The legal subjects taught have had a direct impact on setting up the business.
For example, I am well informed regarding my choice of establishment of a limited company viz other options like a partnership or sole tradership. All these options have implications for legal liabilities in terms of tax and accounting. Knowledge of contract law has permitted me to research, draw up and enter contracts with my talent (Indian award-winning artists). Interest and research on Intellectual Property Rights helped to create and finalise Kraftgurus Limited's logo, brand name and data protection policy.
Similarly, my teaching-research experience has been immensely useful in several ways. My knowledge and practice of research skills, has allowed me to find a gap in the market, analyse competitors, identify and reach out to artists and come up with a business plan. Teaching has many benefits. It has given me the confidence to use my strong communication skills to interact with a wide variety of people and seek help, wherever needed.
How can University of Greenwich students benefit from this idea?
Kraftgurus Limited offers many things to University of Greenwich (UoG) students.
First, it provides them inspiration in knowing that innovation is possible even in hardest of times. No idea is a bad idea if one is willing to work hard in researching the risks and rewards involved and actualising it.
Second, if students do have an interesting business idea, then they can and should work with The Generator that is responsible for nurturing entrepreneurship. Moreover, I am already attached with The Generator as a mentor and as a new business owner, I am happy to share my experiences with students.
What challenges have you faced creating this start-up and how have you overcome them?
This is my first business, so the challenges are unending!
Kraftgurus was initially conceived as a crafts tourism business that would physically run in India. However, due to COVID-19 I had to quickly transform into an online format. This quick turnaround of 4-5 months has been extremely challenging, as I have had to convince my award-winning artists to work in an online platform. This is new for them and involved a lot of training.
Next, Kraftgurus had to discard many art forms from its offering for now due to their unsuitability of the online medium. I arrived at this painful conclusion after a lot of testing.
Other challenges faced were regarding product development, pricing and working with talent who face regular infrastructural challenges like limited and expensive electricity supply and internet connectivity. To counter the latter problems, Kraftgurus has identified the times of the day when there is stable electricity, provided assistance in buying affordable internet packages, etc.
What advice would you give students wanting to start their own business?
Identify what you are passionate about, carefully study the risk and rewards associated with turning it into a workable business idea and then move forward.
Another suggestion is to start building a network of people in and around the product/sector that the identified business will be in, in order to harness synergies.
In the COVID-19 climate where most work and learning is/has moved online, Kraftgurs has had to adapt rapidly and deliver a purely online service. Such networking has been done mostly online, by researching my network, connecting with them through social media [like Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp, Google Meet] and meeting up whenever possible.
Such practice links directly with and highlights the norms prevalent in blended learning that students are participating in University of Greenwich.
I would strongly recommend that students take advantage of their online lectures and tutorials to get comfortable with the use of such technology and exploit it to form friendships and increase in-class participation.
