Answer of the Case Questions: 1.

Answer: Summary of the Case: Kaniz Almas Khan, the pioneer who established Persona as a brand in the beauty industry, is the name of a successful entrepreneur not only among the women entrepreneur but also among all the entrepreneur of Bangladesh. With a deep passion on beautification of human being and a great wish to do something different and big, she started her journey in the beauty industry. In her journey to become a successful woman entrepreneur in the beauty industry of Bangladesh, she got all types of necessary supports from her mother, in laws, husband and peer groups. With the aim to provide the clients with the best quality skin and hair care services, and also bridal makeover, Kaniz opened beauty salon Glamour at her residence in Kalabagan in 1990, with nine workers and an initial investment of Tk 2 lakh which she borrowed from Micro Industries Development Assistance and Services (MIDAS). After being successful to win the love of the clients , she got countrywide recognition as an expert in hair care and inspired many small entrepreneurs to get involved in this business by becoming the 'brand ambassador' for Sunsilk in 1991. As the result of the successful journey, Glamour was turned into Persona Hair and Beauty Ltd. In 1998.Now she is thee successful entrepreneur of two companies: Persona Hair and Beauty Ltd and Persona Beauty Care Ltd. Persona Hair and Beauty Ltd also runs an independent studio and monthly publication 'Canvas'. The company has introduced Persona Health, Spring Spa, Adams' for men, and Persona Institute of Beauty and Lifestyle. Persona has total four salons in Dhaka with a workforce of 1400 among whom 99 percent are women. To increase the motivation in work, she introduced the 'Best Worker Award' at all her salons, where a meritorious and hard-working employee is awarded every month. Kaniz Almas Khan is not only devoted to Persona but she is also involved in social work like providing training and financial support to female victims of domestic violence and acid attacks. In 2005, she started training 25 acid victims from the Acid Survivors Foundation and 23 of them now work for Persona. In 2008, Persona started to work with Development Assistance for Background Society, a nonprofitable organization, and provided scholarships to 10 students from Dhaka University. She also extends her efforts to other social responsibilities, such as creating awareness on cancer and regular tax payments. Kaniz Almas Khan is also the spokesperson for the

Cervical Cancer Campaign initiated by GlaxoSmithKline and the National Board of Revenue. To being true to her dream and working hard to ensure quality service, she achieved her dream to be not only the best in the beauty industry but also to become a successful woman entrepreneur of our country.

2. Describe the characteristics of Kaniz Almas as being the successful entrepreneur that you can identify from the case.

Answer: With a deep passion on beautification of human being and a great wish to do something different and big, Kaniz Almas Khan started her journey in the beauty industry. Over a span of 19 years of the journey of Persona, Persona has become a brand in the beauty industry of Bangladesh and Kaniz Almas Khan has become a successful entrepreneur. She had obviously a great idea to start a business, but without certain characteristics, though, its hard to do well even with the best of business ideas. Here are certain characteristics of Kaniz Almas Khan that we can identify from the case which significantly helped her to become successful as an entrepreneur:

Self-confident: Kaniz Almas Khan started her career in a different way than

others and with a big scale that anyone can ever dream off in Bangladesh because of her self-confidence & optimistic mind.

Knowledgeable of markets: She has great knowledge about market, as a result

from the early stage of her beauty saloon she perfectly identified market segment and gradually added different beauty care services with all new features which has provided new look of todays Persona.

 Independent minded: The desire of

persons to be in charges of their own

destiny rather than on an employer becomes true when they can establish themselves as an entrepreneur .Similarly Kaniz Almas Khan also had impulse to do something independently which led her to become a Woman Entrepreneur.

Creative: Kaniz Almas Khan planned to do something different and big. Her

creativeness led her to start her career in beauty industry rather than in any traditional or established sector, which sector was not so recognizable in Bangladesh.

Responsive to suggestions: After the popularity of best quality service for skin

and hair care for women, her many clients were suggesting and demanding beauty care service for men and the solution was the Adamsfor men by the Kaniz Almas Khan.

Responsive to society: She is involved in social work like providing training and

financial support to female victims of domestic violence and acid attacks, creating awareness on cancer and regular tax payments and also provided scholarships to 10 students from Dhaka University. She is the spokesperson for the Cervical Cancer Campaign initiated by GlaxoSmithKline and the National Board of Revenue.

Perceptive with foresight: Now Persona is an organization which provides world

class beauty care services with all new features that anyone can ever dream off in Bangladesh. Whoever thought about a beauty parlor with a management team,

executives, service providers and many other stake holders? The successful visionary of this vision is Kaniz Almas Khan.

Risk taker: Starting a new thing is always associated with uncertainty and higher

risk. Kaniz Almas Khan is a name who embraces this risk and discovered people's beauty in a new dimension which turned her into a successful entrepreneur.

Single-minded: She was true to her dream with one objective, beautification of

human being which has made her successful in the beauty industry.

Determined: She was committed to implement her dream. Even she didnt give

up her hope after marriage, which brought her success with the help of her mother-in-law, husband & all the in laws.

Devoted: She has great love and deep passion for the beautification of human

being, and it is so effective that makes her a successful a renowned makeover artist, beauty specialist and successful woman entrepreneur in Bangladesh.

So above important characteristics have provided us todays Kaniz Almas Khan. She has discovered people's beauty in a new dimension which turned her successful woman entrepreneur in Bangladesh.

3. What is the type of start-up of Persona? Justify your opinion.

Answer:

There are three types of start-ups from entrepreneurial decision process: lifestyle firms, foundation companies, and high-potential ventures. A lifestyle firm is privately held and generally has modest growth; a foundation company is created from research & development and draws the private interest only not the venture-capital community; a highpotential venture receives the greatest investment interest & publicity, has rapid growth and is integral to the economic development of an area.

From the analysis of three types of start-ups and the given case on Kaniz Almas Khan & Persona we have identified that lifestyle firm is the type of start-up of Persona.

A lifestyle entrepreneur places passion before profit when launching a business in order to combine personal interest and talent with the ability to earn a living. He/she chooses a business intentionally to make a long term, sustainable and visible living working in a field where they have a particular interest, passion, knowledge or expertise. They may combine hobby with a profession, common goals held by the lifestyle entrepreneurs include earning a living doing something that they love, owning a business without shareholders and specifically decide not to remain in control with their venture. Lifestyle firms have modest growth, limited R&D, within several years grow to 30-40 employees and have annual revenue of 2 million dollar. Persona is a recognized brand in the beauty industry established by the successful woman entrepreneur Kaniz Almas Khan. Like a lifestyle entrepreneur Kaniz Almas Khan had great passion for beautification of human being which has made herself an entrepreneur. She had personal interest for this field and for this she went for beautification course to gather her expertise and knowledge. She has chosen this sector for her career because of only her passion and love. Within 8 years from starting, journey as glamour to Persona is growth from 9 employees to 100 employees including 12 performers and it has extended to 200 employees in 2002. So Personas growth was not rapid but continued by modest growth. Now Persona has grown into one of the most profitable beauty service providing ventures in Bangladesh. It has annual turnover of Tk 14.64 crore and average daily sales of Tk 5.25 lakh. Persona employs 1,400 people, of whom 1,200 are service providers and 200 are corporate executives. Though first 8 to 10 years Persona was Lifestyle Firm but now Kaniz Almas Khan initiated several ventures, including spas, gyms. Persona Hair and Beauty Ltd also runs an independent studio and monthly publication 'Canvas. Also Persona has now a joint venture beauty care center of Persona with famous Indian beauty care specialist Jawed Habib named Habibs@Persona. Persona has launched Persona Institute of Beauty and Life Style, the first ever institute of its kind in Bangladesh. It is an approved center of Edexcel International UK to offer BTEC Diploma in Bangladesh. Now the beauty care industry in one of the fastest growing industries of Bangladesh. So from the lifestyle firm Persona is developing to the High-Potential Venture because of its rapid growth, more revenue with more employment. Persona has created a milestone in

beauty industry which is now the integral to the economic development of this field by encouraging others to come into this industry like a High-Potential Venture.

Assignment On
Casa Study On Entrepreneur Kaniz Almas Khan the Founder of Persona

Submitted To
Ms. Jasmine Jaim Course Instructof of Entrepreneurship Development

Submitted by JOGFOL
Rezwana Parvin Eva- 777 Farzana Alam - 781 Shakila Rahman 787 Afra Nouare Rumi 789 Afrin Nahar Siddiquee 1477 Razibul Islam BBA Program.

Institute of Business Administration

Jahangirnagar University

Savar, Dhaka.

Date of Submission: August 13, 2011.