We all love a good story, and nothing quite lends itself to a good story as much as an entrepreneurial journey does. From anguish-filled narratives that end in triumph to the proverbial rags-to-riches tales, these entrepreneurs have seen it all. Too often, these fascinating accounts disappear to make way for talk of a business's growth, its expansion plans and its financial data. We at MYB decided to go back to the basics, and dig up some gems from a treasure chest full of stories of chance encounters that translated into great ideas.

Mushran (seen on extreme left), created an enterprise from her passion that resulted in both profits and social wealth.Photo coutesy: Facebook.com/Bhuirajams

1. Bhuira Jams – Linnet Mushran calls herself the accidental jam maker. The story is set in a little town in Himachal Pradesh. Enamoured by the picturesque surroundings and simple living, Mushran bought herself a little orchard on a whim. On one of her visits, when the orchard had borne fruit, the British-born Mushran decided to make some jam. It set beautifully. The more jam she made for her friends, the more the word spread. And in the nineties, when one couldn’t find good jam in India, Mushran’s products took off. The aptly named Bhuira Jams has grown from strength to strength ever since. This 100 all-women strong company runs nearly 30 product lines.

2. Queer Ink – It’s not often that you hear of a broken ankle leading to a book business. However, there’s no other way Shobhna Kumar likes to tell her story. Her first step in this direction, 12 years ago, was meeting her partner, who was in India while Kumar was in the US, on an online forum. Taking a chance on love, she moved to India and has been with her partner ever since. Prescribed bed rest for a broken ankle, Kumar needed books to keep her company. She was looking for queer books. She quickly realised that there was no market for queer books in India. This led to the setting up of India’s first LGBT bookstore, Queer-ink.com. Realising the huge gap in the queer literature market, Kumar quickly transitioned from selling books to publishing them. A host of LGBT events, workshops and exhibitions soon started to be organised. The website now has over 500 titles in store with lots more in the pipeline.

3. STIC Travel Group – It took some negotiating with a travel agent for Subhash Goyal to get himself a free ticket to Japan. From this was born one of the largest travel agencies in India. The story begins many years ago when Goyal needed to travel to Japan for an international student conference. He couldn’t afford the airfare. However, the travel agent told him that if he could sell 15 tickets, the 16th would be free. Goyal not only succeeded in getting his free ticket, but he also earned a commission on every ticket sold. After spending some time learning and working in the travel industry, Goyal took the entrepreneurial plunge and set up his own travel agency. It has been 40 years since then, and STIC has grown from strength to strength.

An 'accidental entrepreneur', Goyal successfully steered his business into its present position as one of the most established names in the Indian travel industry.  

Says Braun,"If you're the sort of person who needs to feel in control, then India is not the place for you."

4. Metro Brava: In 2007, Rubia Braun left Australia after negotiating for a long trip to India for an internship with a sound recording unit in Hyderabad. On reaching the city, she was in for a rude shock; she had been conned and the opportunity did not really exist. Undeterred, Braun developed ways and means to extend her trip in India with a crack at the Indian film industry, first as spot girl and subsequently as a film producer. By then, she had seen enough to fall in love with the country, its diversity and the potential it offered. In 2009, she co-founded Metro Brava, a film production company with Kranthi Varma to make low-budget feature films. Today, Metro Brava spans the entire gamut of the content business—distribution and exhibition of film content, social media marketing, talent matching, study tours and guest speaking.

5. Enrich – Never would Vikram Bhatt have imagined moving from being a finance manager at the Bombay Dyeing Group to the founder of a chain of unisex salons in Mumbai. It started with helping a friend buy a 270 square feet salon in the suburb of Mulund in Mumbai in 1997. Since then, the business has grown leaps and bounds, revolutionising the beauty business in India. Today, there are over 50 Enrich salons across India, experiencing triple digit growth rates.