Padmaja Rao
Founder, Urban Wood Interiors
After switching careers from the corporate sector to interior designing, Urban Wood Interiors’ Padmaja Rao has made strides to build a business that today caters to a large client base across India. Padmaja stumbled upon the chance to assist an architect on a project in Hyderabad while she was on her maternity leave. The practical experience she gained during that stint set the ball rolling. She quit in 2014 and started out as a freelance interior designer, taking up residential projects. Over time, Padmaja also got herself enrolled into part-time interior designing courses to expand her horizons. With the support of her family, who invested in the business, her annual revenue reached an impressive Rs 75 lakh by 2018-19. Know More >>
Growth Story
21 days into #XceleratorBangalore, Padma bagged two Contracts amounting to approximately 1 crore!
Padmaja Rao, Founder of Urban Wood Interiors, started her interior designing company less than 2 years ago. After attending just two sessions by RAIN Group, Padma confided in her instructor Vivek that she was holding herself back from making any pitches due to the fear of rejection. She was setting herself up for failure by not even applying! Vivek told her to prepare a plan and to think of Plans B, C and D that she could fall back on in case the first plan did not work out.
With this renewed sense of confidence, she approached a client and bagged a sub-contract for the interior and fabrication work as a sub vendor for a Govt project amounting to Rs 80 lakhs. Also, upon seeing that Padma got selected for Xcelerator Bangalore, another client who runs a BPO centre approached her and gave her a contract of Rs 10 lakhs for making office furniture.
We are excited to see Padma GROW!”