As the entire world shut down in 2020 and an entire generation of young entrepreneurs was reconsidering their career path with some even resorting to dance on TikTok and reels, 21-Year-old Shashaank Somani was planning to take his family business of veneer and laminates to a whole new level.
They say to succeed early, you must start early too. Shashaank developed an interest in his family business at a very young age. Being a quick learner, he learnt all about his product from ground zero, right from sourcing to processing. Shashaank believes in maintaining a healthy environment for his employees right from labourer to managing level. “Our business is not just made by wood; it’s also made by efforts of people.” Shashaank said, stating human resource management is the key aspect of building a successful brand.
Seeing his skill set and a keen interest in the business, his family gave importance to his opinions, encouraging him to think of innovations in the business and launch an exclusive showroom of veneer in multiple cities. Amid the pandemic, Somani Surfaces has seen a growth of 36% under Shashaank’s financial understanding of customer acquisition cost and production cost, with the business expanding from one to ten and then twenty cities in the span of just 8 months. The growth of the business and the encouragement of family gave Shashaank the drive to aim for beyond and start his dream project of having a state-of-the-art showroom of veneer and lifestyle experience centre.
Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Shashaank had to dig around 5 countries to build his. He travelled across 5 countries to get the right people on board with the same energy as his. Finally, after countless days of work, his dream project came to life on 3 rd Jan 2022 on its launch. Shashaank has built a tech-enabled showroom that enhanced customer experience. A wide range of products can be seen and selected with a single click in sync with your interior. Not just that, the showroom also has a full hospitality experience for the customer at the lush lounge created inside, “Customer should feel like the king he is”, Shashaank adds.
At the age of 21, Shashaank is one of the youngest, if not the youngest names in the Veneer and ply industry. With his dream showroom in place, he shows no signs of slowing down, but has his eyes set on bigger projects. Shashaank says he has more things in store for the world and he is just getting started.
