Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, business was a constant presence in Yosha's life while growing up and it comes as no surprise that her dream since childhood has been to become a businesswoman and start something of her own one day.
To prepare herself for entrepreneurship, Yosha worked with various companies at different stages of development – including a budding start-up back in the days when start-ups were relatively unknown in India – to gain an in-depth understanding of running a business to working with a big company like the World Bank Group where she learned to manage multiple stakeholders. After spending a decade in the mobile payments sector, Yosha felt ready to venture off on her own and, having observed that companies often use offers to attract customers, came up with an online portal that provides customers with a range of ways to save money.
Yosha's brainchild is www.LafaLafa.com, currently the leading cashback and coupon and product search website and mobile app in India. The company's tagline is "laugh your way to maximum savings," and true to this motto LafaLafa has put a smile on countless users' faces by helping them get cashbacks of up to 50% when they shop online at over 500 stores including Zalora, Asos, Taobao, Agoda, Expedia, Groupon and more. More recently, LafaLafa was one of the privileged few to be accepted into the prestigious 500 Startups accelerator in Silicon Valley, one of the few Indian mobile start-ups to be selected for Facebook's Global FB Start Programme, and the first investment in India by Hong Kong-based venture studio Vectr Ventures. In the summer of 2016, just a year after it first started out in India, LafaLafa's Hong Kong version was launched.
It has not always been smooth sailing, however. When setting up LafaLafa, Yosha came across several problems inherent to India that were difficult to deal with, the first of which was hiring and setting up the team. Multiple hiring mistakes later, Yosha realized how perseverance was the most important trait to hire for in early stage startups. The speed and stability of the internet connection, which are crucial to tech companies, were unreliable even in large cities in India. But the biggest challenge, says Yosha, was in starting the company on her own as a solo founder, with no one to share the work or the ups and downs of running a startup.
Despite these hiccups, Yosha pulled through with her signature determination and perseverance. She has gathered together a strong and efficient team, whom she inspires with her style of leading by example. Whatever needs to be done, whether it is customer service or data entry, Yosha is the first one to step into the fray of things. Her husband, family and friends are also a strong bulwark of support who always her keep her spirits up even when the going gets tough. When not growth hacking for LafaLafa, Yosha is an avid classical arts aficionado and has organized more than 25 events in Hong Kong for SPIC MACAY inviting artists from India to perform across universities and schools in Hong Kong including HKUST.
Know more about Yosha from:
SCMP Education Post - October 13, 2015
Your Story - September 20, 2015