Podcast Start Up On Fire

Serena John, a successful entrepreneur in the food trading business, shares her journey and success on the Startups on Fire podcast. She started her business during the COVID pandemic and overcame challenges such as finance and competition. Her advice to upcoming entrepreneurs is to embrace failure, be open to advice, have a business plan, embrace new challenges, and be focused and determined. Hard work will pay off in the end. Hello viewers, welcome to your all-time favorite podcast show, Startups on Fire, where we talk about the stories of entrepreneurs who turn their dreams into a reality. I'm Annie, your host. Alongside me is Jennifer. Today joining us is a special guest all the way from India, Miss Serena John, who is in the food trading business. She'll be telling us all about her journey and success as an entrepreneur. Stick around as we uncover all the secrets to her success and gain valuable insights into the world of entrepreneurship. Today our speaker, Miss Serena John, is a very focused person, an entrepreneur who has established foodstuff trading in the MENA region for the past five years. Would you like to introduce yourself in detail, Miss Serena John? My name is Miss Serena John. I'm the director of Foodstuff India. I have been based in Dubai for the past 23 years. I started my career as a marketing person. Through marketing experience, I have gained the PR and the market knowledge that has helped me to open my business. It is not every day that you think of starting a business. What basically inspired or motivated you to start it? I am always a business person, but I was working and I always had a business plan in my mind. I wanted to start a business, but during the COVID time, I found that was an opportunity where people were saying everybody was on the negative note and everybody was a victim directly or indirectly. After that, the impact of COVID was like people were saying, yes, salary was cut, a lot of people were there, there was a layoff from the companies. I felt there was an opportunity during that time, yes. Well, I'm pretty sure you're an expert in the field now, but there is always an unforeseen challenges. What are the challenges, some of the challenges that you face? First, one of the biggest challenges in the initial stage was finance. Then, tracking and seeing enough competition, where people were there in the market for long years, long time. I didn't have to compete with them. Then, capitalization restrictions. When we have some issues, we are not able to meet the customers' needs. Then, struggling to meet the deadlines, these were the constraints. I had to overcome all of this. And, we have talked tonight, customers are always waiting. So, we have to figure out whatever it is, out of the way, we have to meet the customers' needs. That was the challenges, main challenges. Thank you. Well, startups have been trending lately, which means there is an increase in the number of upcoming entrepreneurs. What is the advice that you would like to pass down to these upcoming successful entrepreneurs? If you ask me, yes. Only to start the success, the two-step to success, you have to embrace the failure. And, you have to listen to the, always you should be open to advice. Remember, day and night, you should be always open to ask for advice. Then, yes. You should have a business plan. You have to create a business plan. And, you have to do it timely with you. Then, for that, deadlines and timeframes should be there. Then, yes. According to the time, you should embrace new challenges, which gives you the chance. So, boost your confidence. Yes. If there is a challenge, you should be able, you should find a way to solve it. Yes. Then, you, it gives you more confidence. And, through that confidence, you are getting more, what should I say, encouraged. That confidence will encourage you. In short, I can say, conclude it, you should be focused, determined, persistent. Never be, never put anything for tomorrow. Whatever you have to do it, you should do it today. Not even today, right now. Never put it for tomorrow. And, the hard work will never go in vain. It will give you the result. If not today, then tomorrow. Just be, keep on doing. Thank you and good luck. Thank you, Serena, for joining us today. And, now, I hope Annie will be concluding on behalf. Thank you. Good luck. Good luck. Okay, viewers. As we wrap up another interesting episode of Startup on Fire, we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to an incredible guest, Ms. Serena John, for sharing her startup generators If you enjoyed today's amazing episode, do not forget to subscribe, share, rate and leave a review to stay updated on future episodes. Keep innovating and chase those entrepreneurial dreams. Because, nothing is impossible with hard work and determination. Remember, anyone can be an entrepreneur. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.