“I never wanted this to be an office space and tried to make it casual. I decided we would have only beanbags here, but slowly the office is catching up,” says Naadia Mirza the 24-year-old entrepreneur who is responsible for Dottedi. I was seated comfortably on a bean bag and looked at the splashes of yellow and red and funky lamps and for a moment wistfully compared it to the newsroom.
You may be best friends forever with your best friend forever, but you always want a party that is the most talked about. And Dottedi makes sure your party is better. From the theme, to the food, to the activities Dottedi construct and create a party that is wholly yours right down to the streamers. But their endeavours do not end there.
With fun names like Dottedi and Hot Turtle, kindling interest has not been a problem, “It comes from the phrase to dot your i's and cross your t's, indicating perfection,” says Naadia who did her share of entrances examinations and corporate jobs before deciding to break out. “I know I can spend an entire night here working on ideas and concepts and not think of it as work.”
“I had returned from a trip abroad and had so much dead stock that I had a sale just among my friends. That's when I realised we really don't have too many options. That was when I decided to do something about it,” says the graduate in creative management from the University Of Manchester.
“It's been a slow climb but at least now we have a structure. We have our services and products and it has gotten much easier to convince clients,” she says. For the youngster, convincing clients and getting the vendors to take her seriously was her biggest challenge. “But now with over a year in the business I have learned to be assertive and get my work done, also I have learned to trust other people with the job.”
The daughter of a florist, Naadia had always been artistically inclined, but her decision to go into the creative field was not taken too well, “For a long time people thought I only baked cakes. We do bake designer cakes and get orders for about 300 kilograms of cake a year, but it's not the only thing we do,” she says.
But has Naadia ventured into a market that in recent times has seen exponential interest, at least in the segment of products, “All of them do Indian products and also we are not so much about utility as we are about quirky. We have the chocoholic certificates and coupon tins and several other concepts that we are still working on,” says the managing director with confidence about her brand.
Naadia has her people skills, a cheery smile and her determination to outdo herself every time in her favour. She has done some wild theme parties that include first birthdays, bachelorettes and everything that falls in between and spill over beyond.
“I have had some strange demands but my job is not to question, it is to give the client what they want. In the beginning however I found it difficult to say no and had this need to please everyone, but with time and experience, I have smartened up. There is no point taking on something when I cannot deliver to my fullest.”
Dottedi is located at 9B Chez Leila Apartments, Moyon Villa Road, Langford Town. You can also visit their website at >www.thedottedi.in .
This column features those who choose to veer off the beaten track
