Farah Ahmad launched several businesses after starting a Thai Spa with Rs 2.5 lakh. Farah Ahmad, who grew up in Kolkata, is the founder of Beaut Group. The Memory Quilt came from her own hardships.
Farah Ahmad has come a long way since founding her first business, a Thai Spa, in 2010 with Rs 2.5 lakh from her savings. She started two additional enterprises with Rs 12.5 crore in revenue.
“I founded the ‘Walk-in Beauty Thai Spa’ in Indira Nagar, Bengaluru, with two employees,” Farah recalls. “It was a rented 800 sq ft shop on the second floor of a building, and the uncle who owned it was skeptical that I could run a business at 26. “Will you manage it?” he asked. Farah established Sweet Root three years after her first business.
Troy, the store’s mathematically built wooden blocks for kids, are open-ended. After being accepted for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, Farah founded Troy. She launched the product after six months of IIM Bengaluru training. The Troy kit has 62 wooden pieces to build different shapes.
“Children may construct 11 forms, from a doll home to a cart. Farah says it is for 1-7-year-olds. Farah lost her mother and brother in 2021. However, from that emotional pain sprung the “Memory Quilt,” which crafts quilts from discarded garments.
Farah began Memory Quilt in 2021 after losing her mother and brother in four weeks. Farah sewed the first quilts from her brother and mother’s clothes to honor them. She describes how tragedy inspired a business concept. “My brother died in April 2021. Covid caused liver cirrhosis in him. In May, my mother died from Covid four weeks later.”
Farah’s grief inspired her to make a remembrance quilt from her family’s garments. She posted the first memory quilt on her website “Sweet Root” after a local tailor made it from her mother’s sarees. Many folks asked her to make quilts from their deceased loved ones’ clothes. Farah receives orders from rural Indian cities and the US.
Bengaluru women sew the quilts. Farah’s team provides raw materials, and the unit returns the final product to clients. The quilt business is entirely online and automated with chatbot technology. Customers may purchase through their website or Instagram profile.
The infant clothing quilt, T-shirt quilt, and saree quilt may be personalized to create a priceless keepsake of memories. Farah sells custom memory quilts for Rs. 3749–6000.
Farah graduated in Bengaluru and remained.
“I would not expand this venture based on a personal loss,” Farah says. The memory quilt respects these garments, and the tactile outcome is priceless. I hope nobody loses loved ones.”
Farah was born in Kolkata to successful professionals. Her mother was a doctorate-holding Urdu housewife, while her father was an orthopedic physician. Farah, the oldest of three siblings, was the only girl.
She earned a B.Sc. in Biotechnology from The Oxford College of Science in Bengaluru after graduating from Saifee Hall in Kolkata in 2001. In 2006, Bengaluru University awarded her M.Sc. in Biotechnology.
Farah pursued two 6-month Innovation & IP Management courses at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru in the following years to further her entrepreneurial abilities. She proofread a publication part-time for two years, earning Rs. 8,000 per month.
Farah worked as a research associate in Yahoo’s IP division in Bengaluru in 2009, earning Rs 40,000. Farah has always wanted to start a company. She was inspired to start various enterprises by watching her father’s clinic revenue fluctuate.
Farah became a research associate at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru after a year at Yahoo. She spent two weeks at Cambridge University in 2010 on a project. Farah had a Rs 750 Thai massage at the Bangkok airport on her way back to India. It relaxed her.
Farah talked to her brother about opening a Thai massage shop, who backed her. She paid Rs 60,000 for a month-long Thai massage course at Wat Pho Massage School, Bangkok. As a science student, she understood nerves, pressure points, etc. In 2010, she opened the Bengaluru spa.
“I never compromised on spa oils, and that helped my company. Farah claims a Mumbai merchant has supplied 100% organic oil to her for 10 years. The spa runs on autopilot after three years. It generates Rs. 5–6 lakh monthly.”
Farah advocates automating several enterprises. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. One business limits knowledge and assets. “With multiple businesses, you can evolve in different ways,” she says.
Learning, unlearning, and diversifying expand your horizons. “Reminding yourself to trust your team is crucial if you want multiple autopilot businesses.” Her three enterprises employ 25 people.
Farah’s IIT Roorkee M.Tech spouse joined her firm after leaving corporate life. Rian, 10, is their son.
