Nikita Dattani : Patience, Time and Persistence are her Key Ingredients.
The startup manufactures and sells nanofiber-based, virus protective, sustainable face masks, and scarves and is helping us fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Introducing Nikita Dattani, an epitome of courage and valour. Nikita celebrates every little feat of hers and reminds herself of how equipped she is to handle anything that comes her way.
Extremely positive, Nikita believes there’s nothing negative in this world. She possesses an infectious sense of humour and an exploratory mind which makes every difficult thing easy. Fiercely competitive, unbeatable and supremely confident, Nikita stands today as an inspiration to many entrepreneurship enthusiasts. Possessing a distinct entrepreneurial streak, Nikita was no normal wannabe entrepreneur. She was different because she wished to do ‘something’ that helped environment and its people. Founder of MyssTre, a company that manufactures Nanofibre based virus protective sustainable face mask is not just Nikita’s pride; it is the pride of the nation.
Nikita hails from Malegaon, a small town in Nashik which is known as ‘The city of Powerloom’. She comes from a Gujarati joint family. Her family owned power looms in the town from the generation of her great grandfather. So while business was the key identity of the family, the sheen gradually faded. Nikita had heard stories of her father sacrificing a lot of things and undergoing many hardships and struggles. They had their share of highs and lows, but they moved ahead with steadfast belief and overcame odds. So Nikita grew up valuing hard work and learning never to be complacent, to always keep trying, planning, dreaming and seeking to achieve.
The environment at home triggered an entrepreneurial orientation in Nikita, so much so that she couldn’t wait for her studies to get over to take the plunge as an entrepreneur. An average student, Nikita had her mind set on business right from childhood. At a very young age, she recalls, on being asked what would she like to pursue in life, her response was, “A queen of my own making.”
“Making the best product available was an instinct that paid out during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have made sure to deliver every possible order with the greater good in mind, and keeping our MRP intact and not inflating the price, resulting in a 1000X growth in demand. We have been working on it every waking hour, and have our available production capacity booked for the next three months,” says Nikita.
Nikita’s role model has always been her father. His hard work, perseverance and persistence had left an indelible mark on her psyche. And, like her father she always wanted to establish her own footing. She planned every step. She knew times were different now and the tricks of the game had changed so she first decided to equip herself with knowledge in the discipline of entrepreneurship. She came across EDII’s Post Graduate Programme in Management – Business Entrepreneurship, and joined it.
The learning at EDII, she says, “The course makes me confident and even more enterprising. It not only enhanced my entrepreneurial skills but also expanded my creative thinking. Classes, projects and mentoring sessions, strengthened my abilities and revolve to become an entrepreneur in a way that I become useful to society too.”
When asked about how she scanned her business opportunity, she recalls, “My father is allergic to dust. He has to cover his face when he steps out. Then there were many I came across who suffered serious problems of this kind. So, I wanted to do something concrete to mitigate this problem. I was, therefore, on a lookout for an opportunity in this space. During one of the symposiums, EDII had organised a guest lecture on Nanofiber and their applications. I couldn’t understand anything since I am from commerce background and so I started asking a lot of questions which were answered by the lecturer in simple terms. There in that class I got the idea to create Myss Tre-Nano pollution mask and scarfs which could combat pollution and viruses and, could keep my father’s and several others’ allergies at bay.”
After months of thorough research and with the guidance of EDII faculty members, Nikita finally managed to create nanofiber-based virus protective sustainable face mask.
Somewhere Nikita was convinced that her idea would fit into the demands of the time. As she puts it, “The quality of poor air can severely damage our health and contribute to asthma, respiratory diseases, cancer, strokes and even death. My vision was to create an air mask which is comfortable to wear and is gentle on skin. Our company’s mask not only protects people from the sun but also protects them from non-oil airborne particles such as dust, bacteria and deadly viruses.” As Nikita claims, her product comes with 99% filtration efficiency which filters 2.5-micron bacteria and comes with an adjustable oft nose bridge and soft Velcro.
But was the journey easy for Nikita? She reminisces, “Absolutely not! Every Friday I had to visit IIM-A to give presentation before experts for raising fund for my company. I was inexperienced that time and there were about twenty other IIM-A matured startups competing with me. But the one thing that kept me motivated was my belief in my idea. I knew my product was something that people wanted. Finally through, after too many hassles and hiccups, I succeeded in raising fund for my company.”
Today, Nikita has carved a niche in the domain. Her products are in high demand due to the pandemic COVID 19 and in these troublesome times she is serving the need of the nation with all her might. The company has expanded its reach to various countries like New York, Egypt, Singapore and several other prominent destinations. Her turnover, within two years of setting up, is close to one crore.
Nikita concludes, “The two most powerful warriors in life are patience and time. Patience will give you strength and spirit, and time will help you in discovering the value of life. So have patience and wait for the right time.”
