Shaping entrepreneurial instincts
Kaveri joined Coventry University London in 2016 to study for her Global Business top-up BA, hoping that her time studying with us would give her valuable insights into the business world. After graduating in 2017, she established successful e-commerce start-up, My Pooja Box. We caught up with Kaveri to see how her studies helped shape her journey to becoming a business owner and to find out how she applies what she learnt at Coventry University London to her business even today!
More about Kaveri
Coming from a business family, I always had entrepreneurial instincts. I started my bachelor’s degree in India and continued to work on the side for my brother’s IT company. In 2016, my family propelled me to transfer to Coventry University London for my final year, believing the international exposure would allow me to gain tremendous knowledge and valuable insights into the real world.
Thanks to the Coventry University London Talent Team, for my final module I was able to acquire an internship with a company in London that organised workshops, exhibitions and events to connect entrepreneurs with investors. During my 3-month internship, I met numerous investors, networked with entrepreneurs from multiple verticals, and gained first-hand experience of the corporate world. The module Developing Business Skills, was one of my favourite classes and I continue to apply many learnings from this class to my business even today.
In June 2017, I graduated in Global Business and was figuring out my career path. After much contemplation, I decided to move back to India and start an invigorating e-commerce start-up with my brother called My Pooja Box. There was an exciting aspect to building something from scratch.
Ever since, I’ve been fully involved in My Pooja Box, an exclusive, online-only brand offering home decor, gifting, festive and religious products that celebrate the rich culture and heritage of India. At present, we have over 4,000 products on our website, deliver globally and have reached over £1M in sales. As the Co-Founder & CEO, my role is to envision the direction and future of our brand, manage the overall operations and resources of the company, make major corporate decisions and ensure the goals and objectives of our business are met.
The brand and I are focused on making a difference. As a woman entrepreneur, I am happy to report that 80% of the entire team and 100% of the senior management is female at My Pooja Box. We are also interested in sustainability and some of my best-selling products provide environmentally friendly solutions.
At Coventry University London, I was able to gain business knowledge, meet like-minded individuals, learn about various business strategies, improve my communication and presentation skills and obtain valuable opportunities to help my career progress. I live by the quote "love what you do and do what you love", and being a creative, instinctive and passionate individual, I believe I am now able to truly utilize my potential while working without any boundaries as an entrepreneur. Even with over 50,000 happy customers, every single order gives me as much joy as the first did.
Kaveri Sachdev, Global Business top-up BA (Hons), quoted in 2022
