Confident, trendily dressed, Revathy Subramaniam is one among three daughters of K. K. Ganapathy, a businessman of Madras. The eastern coromandel coast city, as is well known, is the heart of the leathergoods manufacturing industry of India. Hence, though his daughters live and are educated in Bombay, Ganapathy lives for the most part in Madras. Ganapathy also has the distinction of having three daugthers, each born seven years after the earlier one. Among the three, Revathy is the middle one. She completed her degree in commerce from Bombay University in 1981.

"I was married the same year," says Revathy, "but of all the children, I had somehow been part of my father's business life during my youth. Ever since my school days, I would sit in my father's office and I came to know leading tanners, suppliers and manufacturers of leather and leather goods. After my marriage, I automatically began looking after his business interests in Bombay where my husband and I lived."

Revathy says that somehow, her father felt that since he had son, she, his second daughter, would most likely assist him.

"He Virtually put me in the role of his heir and not only taught me to start my own business. Because of his work, I had attended several trade fairs and business seminars and was able to deal with buyers with confidence. My father not only helped me but two other women who are doing very well in the leather business today. My mother, too, felt proud that I was able to carry on my father's business. Since my younger sister is a student and a devoted musician, naturally I have to pay more attention to my father's business."

Going with her father on his rounds, I learnt about the different kinds of leather, their qualities. I met the people involved in this field so when I decided to do something dealing with leather seemed the obvious choice. But I wanted to do something creative also, so I decided to manufacture leather bags."Strangely enough the role that Revathy played in her father's work was enhanced when she got married. Since her husband was in the navy, she sailed to the U.S., Europe And Australia with him for three years. "I concentrated like a driven person on leather goods, designs: pricing, quality control. By the time we came back to a shore job, I had two daughters-one my mother-in-law looks after, and the other my mother, Both my supporters allow me the freedom to run my business. My husband and I respect each other's work and strive to enrich our family life."

Of course no business venture is a bed of roses and in the initial stages Revathy needed help in several ways- financial and managerial. Her husband agreed to give her his savings and loans.

Another problem was getting the right type of leather. For this her own contact with various factories helped. She had to pick out the right skilled workers and train them in her own way of working, particularly developing designs for sale abroad.

"It was no doubt strenuous as I had to go even to slums like Dharavi where many workers reside," Revathy says. Getting the right raw materials such as the special finished leather from the right source at the right price was another problem. The Main problem was getting orders from genuine buyers abroad for which she had to send several sample parcels.

But there is a lot more to making leather bags than knowing about leather, as Revathi was soon to discover. It involved marketing her products, which in meant extensive correspondence, lack of finance and enormous task of obtaining different licences from the municipality and the government authorities. Banks were hesitant to advance loans to a new firm. Often with no response forthcoming. "I must have sent hundreds of letters and only about 25 of them must have replied.Out of these, only a handful were potential buyers," says Revathi.

She started by selling her bags to local retail outlets and local exporters, but all the while she was biding her time and trying to establish her contacts abroad. The first few month her balance sheets showed only expenditure, with no income. "I would send samples, then they would send me their samples, then I would send counter samples, then salesman samples and it was only after this that sometimes an order would materialise." The hardships of her initial struggle are still fresh in her mind. "We started breaking even around last May and today I am making profits." She says with justifiable pride.

At this time of stress Revathy's husband stood by her and today she is happy that she has established two export outlets one in Germany and one in New York and   small consignments to Jordan. In all cases, the buyers are happy with the bags sent to them and have placed repeat orders. "As my bags are highly labor oriented, I cannot turn out more than 25 bags a day," she says.

Our specialisation is handicraft, plaited, woven bags in exquisite designs and bright color combinations which has caught the fancy of foreign buyers, essentially because of the intricate labor oriented weaving involved. "To the best of our knowledge we are the only people doing this now because ordinary woven leathers are used in what is called huraichi sandals for exports.

. "The French want plain bags, with no buckles and ornaments, because our buckles get black. And they prefer a cloth lining. The Middle East countries, on the other hand, want a lot of of gold buckles and nylon lining. Most of the leather bags manufactured in India are exported and the competition is tough. But there is enough work for all," she says, not afraid of the competition.

Today, she makes around 800 bags per month and, being extremely quality conscious, she is there in her factory, from morning till late evening supervising, designing and getting the work done. "I"d rather make fewer bags and make them well, than take on a lot of work and let quality suffer," she says, claiming that none of her products have been returned due to poor finish. She has just landed an assignment to make folders and overnight bags for Shyam Ahuja his dhurrie and her leather. She is thrilled about this.

"Today my monthly turnover is around two lakh, but when I started, I sometimes had difficulty even paying my staff their wages. In business you learn one thing - your staff must be paid on time, where you have money to keep the home fires burning is secondary. Initialy, It was all going down hill but today, business has picked up, the banks have advanced me a loan and I am making profits," she says enthusiastically, certain that the future will bring even more rewards.

Revathy works in an industrial space of only 640 sq. Ft. And the machines she has are inadequate. She has only eight workmen. She is keen to increase her production by re-investing the profits and additional loans from the bank. Her company is called "Trendy Leatherware".

" Of course with my limited experience of a woman venturing into this line specially at a time when the accent is more on exports, I definitely want others also to get into this industry provided they have the grit and determination and are able to face the initial obstacles. To pick out creative and exclusive designs, it is absolutely essential to see and study foreign styles and develop our own designs without direct imitation. It is a continuous process as fashions always change and we have to be aware of new trends.

"I am confident that quality goods sold at fair prices can capture the overseas market in an abundant measure. Indian leather goods are in vogue essentially because they are hand crafted with minimum use of machines. I am determined with my family's help to make my business and my family life successful; " Revathy concludes.

You will not have any problem finding my office. I am the only lady in the industrial complex just ask me says Revathy Subramaniam over the phone. There she sits, the 27-years old lady surrounded by her staff, heaps of leather, machines, glue, magnetised buttons, finished bags... and a happy smile on her face.

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