Interview with Rashmi Tallam & Sakina Basha, Founders, Dash of Love

Many of us dream about leaving our jobs and doing something on our own. Only a few turn it into reality! There’s no shortcut to becoming an Entrepreneur. What it takes is passion and that’s how Rashmi Tallam & Sakina Basha began their journey with Dash of Love! Kudos to these Shepreneurs for taking the leap of faith. Here’s what they have to say about their journey so far.

  • What is the story behind Dash of Love? What was your inspiration behind starting it?

The idea of starting a business together was on our minds for many years. The lockdown gave us a good opportunity to share recipes and experiment making desserts and chocolates. The dishes we made were a huge hit among families and friends and that is where our journey of DASH OF LOVE began. The idea from the beginning was to adopt recipes and trends of chocolates and confectionery from all over the world and make it at home.

  • What are some of the challenges you faced when you started out?

After working in the corporate for multiple years convincing our families on our idea of starting a business such like DOL definitely took some extra effort. Apart from that the pandemic did make things like procuring, packing, delivery difficult and mainly gaining people’s trust that everything is made following the precautions and hygiene standards and is safe for consumption was a challenge.

  • Tell us about your journey from the corporate world to becoming an entrepreneur…

Both of us come from the corporate backgrounds working in core fields of HR and Marketing. The transitioning from the corporate world to entrepreneurship was one of the most impactful journeys we personally experienced. It definitely changes what you have been conditioned to believe and challenge you to grow in unexpected ways.

While becoming an entrepreneur gives you a lot of freedom to explore your own ideas and opportunities, you should also be aware of the negative mindsets and voices that will question your competence. The solution we figured out is self – care, boost your confidence from time to time, keep yourself positive and face your fears and challenges head on. 

  • What are the things women entrepreneurs need to keep in mind while starting something? Apart from the great idea, what do you need to be armed with?

So it’s been about 6 months since we started DOL and 2 months of preparation before that and the journey has been full of new experiences and learnings. We are following these three things as our Mantra which we think every entrepreneur should follow to be successful.

  1. Do not fear failure, it’s part of the game
  2. Always receive feedback with a smile do not get intimidated
  3. PLAN big , THINK big ….never give up on your dream

Apart from the great idea you definitely need to know how to handle finances, how to use social media for business and keep track of the industry and the trends

  • What role does family support play and what was your personal experience?

It’s true that setting up and growing a business does take away majority of your time but it isn’t necessary that one needs to sacrifice family time. Our families have played a very important role of becoming our safety net and also investing emotionally in our business. The encouragement we have been getting and the compromises being made to help us run the business smoothly is definitely recognized and appreciated.

  • How important is social media in building a business today? How has it helped you?

While social media has been the go to tool for many businesses in the last couple of years for home entrepreneurs like us and amidst a pandemic it became the only tool or platform we could use to connect with customers, promote our brand and showcase our products. It has definitely helped us widen our reach not just in Bangalore though we are currently catering to Bangaloreans we have enquiries from around India which honestly sometimes gives us hope that the business does have potential to expand in the future.

  • What are your future plans for Dash of love?

The Big plan has always been to grow the brand and create a Boutique store that houses handcrafted exotic chocolates and confectionery. We want to definitely tap into the niche market of homemade/handcrafted chocolates in India.

  • What advice would you give to women who want to start a business?

Go for it! If you are passionate about something, even on a small scale start your business you will never know whether it will work unless you give it a try. You need to dream to make them come true.

  • Tell us about your offerings especially around festivities?

We came up with our menu after doing a lot of research on varieties available all over the world. The main idea was to offer goodies worthy of repeated indulgence. Meruto, Nutty fudge and the marshmallows have been all time favorites. Also creating menus and hampers specific to the season and festivities has been our priority. The basic idea is to give our clients a special moment to remember and enjoy our goodies on their special occasions.

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  1. Nazanine Apte says:

    Their products are truly delicious. The plum cake that I gifted my friends before Xmas was such a hit that they came back asking for more. But unfortunately they are over. So waiting for the next batch which will hopefully be soon.
    Their jujubes were polished in less than 5 mins by my daughters n their friends. Mom n me loved their paan chocolates.
    Do not miss their hot cocoa with marshmallows ?

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