All creatures great and small…

Way back in 2012, I started a small venture and named it Quality Pets. I was just entering my final year of graduation and like any other 20-year-old Mumbaikar was managing life on limited pocket money. From the age of 15 my only wish was to get a pet dog at home, but the idea was never welcomed. So whenever I felt like or was down in life for any reason, I used to visit local pet shops or breeding centers and spend some time with dogs. Soon I had built good relations with the pet shop owners and breeders, which later turned into business relations as my suppliers.

In my final year of graduation we had a project on Innovative B-plan. This led to start of Quality Pets. I noticed a gap between potential buyers and breeders. I started posting advertisements online on portals like olx.com and quikr.com. At the time not many sellers had any sort of online presence but buyers were present online.

In the initial days I used to get over around twenty-twenty five calls per day and I could convert at least one. Things changed slowly for the better as from selling one puppy I moved up to selling a few pups per week. I never used to buy pups in advance to stock and then sell. I used to only do confirmed orders with advance payment and this principle is still followed in my business . Now our network of breeders and clients has expanded to more than fifteen states; all over the country.With word of mouth and online publicity our clientele has started to grow and within one year we had our major client – Central Railways Dogs Squad, Mumbai.

We also have clients from government authorities and off course, the celebrities. It Quality Pets is now a full-fledged, registered, full time business with a team as hired interns from WeSchool.With each passing year, the business kept growing and today Quality Pets has reached every corner of the country in helping people  find the perfect pet. 

Then came the next big step, as  in 2015, Quality Pets  stared taking consultancy work in setting up farm houses for animals and  birds like dogs, ducks, hens, horses etc. Our services included finding animals and birds, setting up infrastructure and provide caretakers for the animals and birds.While things were taking shape another big step was being taken on the personal front as I joined WeSchool for my Master’s degree PGDM in Healthcare Management. A lot of my time was now getting used in keeping up with the brilliant students and the Innovative teaching styles were keeping me interested and occupied at WeSchool.

Thankfully at WeSchool, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs were given all the guidance and mentoring to think big and grow. By mid of first year, I had a working partner Nehal Agarwal who was my classmate then and who joined Quality Pets in January 2015 as a trainee with me. Soon he picked up the threads of our sales strategy and soon we started working as a team bringing in better results. We hired a few interns from our batch to work with Quality Pets. WeSchool provided us with a workspace in E-cell for our meetings and other activities. Quality Pets represented WeSchool in B-Plan competitions held in New Delhi and Mumbai securing first prize.

The event was called Startup Launchpad organised by FMS Delhi. It was powered by 10,000 Startups & Weekend Ventures with principal sponsor Google for Entrepreneurs. The event consisted of 2 days and saw a participation of around 12 teams consisting of total 26 participants from all over country.

In one of our brainstorming sessions in the E-Cell, came the next big idea … to expand and diversify in the highly unorganised and untapped Indian Pet Industry. We found pet insurance as one space with no providers and huge market. In our research we figured that pet insurance had huge presence in all major developed countries. In India, pet owner had no idea something like pet insurance existed. Our survey showed a good potential in Indian markets for pet insurance.

Further in discussion we found the opportunity spaces.

• Introduction of Pet Insurance in India.
• Vet appointments app.
• Corporate stress busting workshops.
• Finding a perfect pet.

And also the Solutions:

• PetSecure:Pet Insurance PetSecure is a pet insurance product provided by a Nationalized Insurance providing company of GOI. Quality Pets will  sell Pet Insurance in a product form via Pet Stores , Vet clinics , animal pharmacies and other Pet traders. (Similar to how Mobile/Gadget  insurance is sold currently).

• Vet Appointment App Quality Pets is working on a Pet app for android and IOS, which will have complete info on the nearest veterinarian doctor. Reviews/ratings, cost for consultation etc. Appointments call also be booked. The app will also have info on how to raise a pup & much more selective information.

• Stress busting Quality Pets is working on a stress-busting workshop using furry adorable small sized dogs. This workshop can be done at companies with high stress levels among its employees. It has shown results of increased productivity with less stress.

• Quality Pet’s: Find your wag ! We here at Quality Pets have a expert team which helps you choose your perfect breed in dogs or cats suitable as per your needs and other important factors like budget, home size, Family Size & members, time needed for maintenance etc. This could be also done online on www.qualitypets.in (WIP) (Testing)