Lakhasly

Background
“I always wanted to pursue my passion… had a strong desire to run my
own business”
One cool morning, Jamana was driving slowly to college on Qurum Heights
road to take her class but her mind was still in her friend’s daughter’s
birthday party she attended last night. “How excited were all the kids with
their creative craft work”, she thought. Kids’ excitement took her into her
own past when she won tons of appreciation from her teachers, friends and
parents for her creativity. She was quite passionate about art and craft,
jewelry/ornaments making since her childhood. “Could this be the passion
she can transfer into a business venture?” she asked herself when she
entered Dr. Tahseen’s class on “Small Business management”.
By the time she completed her studies, she had made up her mind that
she will start her own business and take her passion forward. Jamana
Al-Zadjali, a business graduate from Majan University College was born
and brought up in Muscat. Her degree in Business Management further
enhanced her passion to start an entrepreneurial venture. She was a
risk-taker and decided not to go for an employment though she had good
grades in her Bachelor’s degree. Apart from having a business degree, she
is certified for “Training the Trainees” funded by the United Nations.
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Opportunity and Risk: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Jamana had a creative nature, and she loved creativity. She always
expressed concerns regarding kids’ obsession with electronic gadgets such
as mobile phones, tablets, video games, watching cartoons on TV, etc.,
and had an opinion that these devices are taking away kids’ creativity and
love for art. They spend more time playing video games on these devices
which may cause various health issues. Parents sometimes are left with no
choice except to let their kids use these gadgets or watch cartoons as some
parents simply don’t know how to engage their kids in more productive
activities. She felt a strong need to address this issue and help out kids and
their parents to use their time more effectively. “Why can’t I do something
to engage these kids in art and craft”, she asked herself, once she saw
her two year old son playing a game on the mobile phone. She identified
this need and started to think to develop and transfer this passion into a
business venture.
“The idea that will resolve a growing issue in this digital era and will help
parents to up bring their kids more creatively, was the main source of
motivation for me initially”, she commented. However, when she observed
sign of success in this idea as more parents were showing interest, she
decided to step in the market for some revenue. The risks involved putting
everything at stake, financial and reputational. She did not have the
resources but had the will and she felt that was good enough to take here
through. She planned a business model in order to mitigate the risks. She
chose an online model and promotion through social media in order to
reduce the cost. She collaborated with other businesses such as Buffalo
Wings and Rings so that she does not have to incur high fixed costs.
An Entrepreneurial Lens.
Like any fresh graduate, she had an idea but no adequate resources to
reach out to customers. She opted for easy options, i.e., social media.
She started selling her craft work and jewelry through social media, word
of mouth, personal references, etc., but it was certainly not enough to
sustain. She started to take party orders from different sources where she
had some activities to engage kids in art work.
Things were moving but not as per her expectations. She was charging only
2 RO per kid involved in various activities at birthday parties. She wanted to
expand her business. In 2015, she met her old friend who had expertise in
marketing. She decided to seek her help to use more online resources to push
her business further. She created her own website, had a Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram page, which helped her expand her marketing strategies.
“What next?” Collaboration as a marketing Strategy.
The revenue generated through birthday parties was still very limited.
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“What next” was the big question in her mind all the time? “Why don’t you
collaborate with some restaurants”, her marketing friend suggested. She
immediately decided to go for it. She partnered with a restaurant called
“Buffalo Wings and Rings” and started to spend 4 hours on every Friday
arranging some fun activities with art and craft for kids. This partnership
proved quite successful as it was a “win-win” situation for both. The
restaurant started to attract more families with kids and Jamana started to
get more recognition as an entrepreneur.
Revenue Model
Crafterina had only one primary revenue stream, i.e., to sell craft and
jewelry items online. However, it was very limited and Jamana did not take
much time to decide that she needed to focus on more varied revenue
streams. Hence, she explored both direct and indirect revenue generating
streams. For direct in-store retail sales, she did not have enough resources,
so she teamed up with Buffalo Wings and Rings restaurant which proved
quite successful as she started to generate some income without having to
invest on renting out a shop or a store. The businessmodel was simple as
Jamana explained, “Each Friday afternoon, families would leave their kids
(approximately 15 per Friday) for four hours at Buffalo Ring at 5 RO each
for a total revenue of 75 RO. 2 RO would go to the restaurant for kids’ food
and 3 RO would be for me. Since my cost was minimal, i.e., 1 RO per child,
so I estimated that the remaining 2 RO as my net profit per child.”
For indirect source she relied on events such as birthday parties, and craft fairs.
“If I book 10 birthday parties every month, each for 60 -90 minutes that include
10 kids at 2 RO each for a total revenue of 20 RO per party, I would generate
200 RO revenue every month. Considering 1 RO per child as an investment cost
for buying raw material, I estimated 100 RO as my net profit every month.”
Road Ahead:
Initially, Jamana invested about 4000 RO to reach up to this stage as she
imported craft material from the US and Europe. She reflected on her past
few years’ experience in her new venture and realized that she needed
to spend more time on strategizing her business, not only just doing the
work involved in the business. This meant that she needed to explore more
effective marketing strategies to expand her business. She also thought of
reducing her initial cost by approaching more local options to procure the
raw material required. More collaboration with some famous restaurants
could have brought her some more revenue but for that she needed to
invest more of her time. She was on a path of achieving greater heights but
had to overcome the initial challenges first. In future she hopes to open her
own craft studio and a creative center as she has successfully made arts as
her business. Crafterina is a place where her passion and business meet