“Try and try again if you don’t succeed the first time,” firmly believes Nikhil Ranjan, Managing Director, William Penn
An Engineering graduate from the National Institute of Engineering (Mysore), Nikhil discovered the potential for writing instruments in the country which led him to lay the foundation stone of William Penn, a retail store for high end stationery and ever since then, there has been no turning back!
Starting a venture from a scratch with limited resources and being a one-man operation, was a real test of entrepreneurship for Nikhil, but with his unflinching dedication and perseverance, he eventually paved his way to success.
Along the way, Nikhil established a trading arm of William Penn to represent a few select international brands of writing instruments and men’s accessories. Through this division, William Penn distributes products to other retail chains and has a growing corporate and E-commerce presence.
Walk us through your ‘atmanirbhar’ entrepreneurial journey. How has the experience been so far?
It’s been a long journey, of nearly 19 years. We are a completely homegrown brand with a presence across channels of retail and online. We began as a reseller of brands from around the world. Over the last few years, we have consciously built our homegrown brand of Pennline and acquired Lapis Bard from England.
Pennline has recently acquired the exclusive rights to market stationery under the brand ‘83’. 83 is a Bollywood movie which is due to release in December – celebrating India’s victory in the Cricket World Cup in 1983.
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