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Gone are the days when children's birthday parties were confined to balloon-decked drawing rooms and musical chairs. Nowadays parents are indulging their kids into much more elaborate affairs, from movie-themed gatherings to bouncy house parties and they are prepared to pay for it. This craving for exclusivity, specialization and something different amongst elders and the children has definitely made birthday party planning a booming business of the city. Reading the pulse of the market well, Bangalore based Sudha Sundaravaradan took advantage of this and launched Jumporee, India’s first exclusive kids bounce-house Rental Company.Making Kids Jump, Bounce and Slide
An M.Com graduate with MBA degree from the US and an ex-employee of the bank of New York Mellon Corporation, Sudha was born with the genes of an entrepreneur. After moving back to India in 2009 from the US, Sudha had once organized a birthday party for her kid where she arranged for bounce-houses. The bounce-houses were supplied by a local vendor and they were very dirty, and with nobody to assist the children with the activities, it was clearly not safe. On this Sudha says, “We have seen similar bounce-houses in US and this concept was not new to us. We knew how much the kids loved it back there and even I have enjoyed playing with my kids in bouncies. But when we hired these in India, were shocked to see the unsafe and unclean bounce houses.”
Mother of two, Sudha was always fascinated with kids’ entertainment. Post her bounce-house experience on her kid’s birthday, Sudha realized that there was a huge gap in the entertainment space for children in India. An entrepreneur by nature, Sudha always wanted to start her own business and this break was her calling to start a venture on her own. Driven by passion and the urge to do something unique, Sudha honed in on the option of starting a rental company that would provide clean and safe bounce-houses for children’s party. Surveying on her plan for about two years, finally in 2012 Sudha was ready to bring her ideas to life and thus she established Jumporee – a bounce-house rental firm.
Jumporee is India’s first bounce-house rental business promising safe, clean and fun bouncy experience
A bootstrap venture, Jumporee operates on mobile concept.On the event day Sudha and her team get the bouncies to the client’s place and inflates them before the party, set up the play zone, monitor the kids and let them have fun, all at their door steps. Once done, the bounce-houses are again deflated and taken back. Proud of her achievements Sudha speaks, “So far all our business has been through leads and referrals. People have already started recognizing our value and paying for it and it is clear shown in the steady growth of the company revenue over the last five years.Our brand name has become synonymous with bounce-houses to the extent that children and adults in Bangalore now refer to bounce-houses as simply Jumporee.”
Thriving her Way through the Male Dominant Business
Being the first generation entrepreneurof her family, initially Sudha had to face a lot of challenges and criticism for running a rental business which is mostly male dominated. Paying no heed to such negative opinions, Sudha stayed focused towards her goals. “People in India are not very supportive about the idea of women running a rental business that is generally male dominated and has hard labour. However, my husband always encouraged me. He has been my mentor, my advisor, critique and my supporter at all times. Also, my team at Jumporee has been very helpful through out. If it was not for my husband and my great squad, it would not have been easy to bring Jumporee to where it stands today,” utters Sudha.
Proud of being an entrepreneur, Sudha Sundaravaradan feels that running a business on her own gave her the flexibility and freedom to implement her own ideas and thoughts in her business. Passing on her entrepreneurial advice to the women willing to start their business, Sudha says, “I believe every idea will work out if executed the right way. Do proper research and learn about your idea before executing it; right execution being the key for any business to succeed.If your homework is done properly and the execution is done right, you’ll never fail.Nothing is impossible; as long as you have willpower, courage, patience and perseverance, you can succeed in any business.”