Shahil Agrawal used to see bean bag chairs during his travel to India and thought of starting bean-bags in Nepal 5 years ago. Totally unknown to the Nepali market, beans was not available in Nepal and the production of the bean bags couldn’t take momentum that time. Now, as the beans come from India, they have started producing bean bags here in Nepal itself. They make the covers using the resins from Japan and stitch the faux leather here and refill it with beans and sell it in Nepali market. They have set-up a factory with a production capacity of around 50-75 bean bags in a single day, with two machines and 4 people involved in production. Currently, they get orders for 2-3 pieces of bean bags daily. They have availability of various colors, shapes and sizes of bean bags along with making of bean bags as per the orders and requirements of the clients. As most of the bean bags available in Nepali market are made and brought from India, Happy Bean Bags Nepal makes the bean bag chairs in Nepal itself using the original fire resistant beans.
They also have the facility of home delivery of the bean bag chairs. Currently, they are marketing their products through Facebook and Instagram only along with their personal network including friends and relatives. The price of bean bag chairs at Happy Bean Bags cost range from Rs. 3500 to Rs. 20000. They conducted R&D on their own to come up with different, shapes, styles and sizes of the bean bags. Sharing the smooth functioning of the company, Agrawal says, “There is a proper division of works in the company. My partner, Anup Kaberiya looks after the accounting and finance departments while I look after the marketing and promotional side of the business.” They also have hired a different set of team to run the showroom. Now, coming this far within the short span of launching the company, they have dreamt of making all designs available in the international market from Nepal. The customer response so far is very good, and there are no complaints from any of the 200 customers they have dealt with till now.
And, almost none of their customers have returned without buying one. They get pleased when their customer sitting in the bean bags say, “It’s too comfortable to make me feel not to get up from the chair.” They also have been getting orders from institutions including, schools, corporate offices, as the office spaces are getting cool, colorful and comfortable. Sharing about the challenges of bean bags, Agrawal says that as bean bags is a relatively new concept in Nepali market, it’s a bit challenging to convince people about it. People don’t buy these directly, and are willing to come and try it first. Further talking about the challenges in the business, Agrawal says that they need to bring every material from India for the production of bean bags. “As the bean bags are extremely large in size, there is not any proper delivery mechanism in Nepal. If one orders online, though other goods can be delivered easily commuting through motorbikes, but for the delivery of bean bags, we need 4 wheelers, and as the cab fair in Nepal is extremely high, the cost of delivery is very high,” shares Agrawal.
As of now, they have conducted deliveries of the bean bags inside the Kathmandu valley only. They are also opening a showroom of the bean bags chairs very soon and also planning to market it to Pokhara, Biratnagar and other places through dealership and franchises in near future. In the next two years, Agrawal plans to take the business all over Nepal, along with making its price much lower. To the emerging entrepreneurs, he says that there are obstacles in every steps for the entrepreneurs here. “We should try entrepreneurship in small scale, with proper homework and scale it up slowly. We shouldn’t lose hope. And, work towards it,” he shares. Presented By: Basanta Kumar DhakalEvery morning when I go in to wake my daughter, I dream about the Unlazy Days of Summer to come where I can clear my head of all my Alpha Mom duties, and focus on re-organizing her room. But with all of the snow days, there have been many so many moments unfilled of appointments and meetings and carpools that I decided to check a box off on my list.
And her room was at the top. To say she is a hoarder would be an understatement. She saves flower petals and beads and pieces of paper with little notes on them. But of all her “collections,” the most overwhelming one is her ever-growing stash of stuffed animals. I decided to create a bean bag chair to store all of that mess, but leave easy access to those toys. Believe it or not, there is a Moses basket under all of that. The plan, when she outgrew it as an infant, was to keep it in her room as storage for her stuffed toys. But the toys outgrew the basket before the girl did – not letting me replace it for something larger… until now. I didn’t so much as ask her if I could make alternative storage so much as tell her a new storage arrangement was necessary or the animals were going to be living in the basement by summer. Risking the loss of her toys in her room, she agreed to let me come up with some way to corral the crowd. I didn’t want to buy anything, I wanted to upcycle something.
A cardboard box, or something of the like, covered in fabric would work. Or, I could come up with something just from the fabric. An idea came to mind in the wee hours of morning when I do my best thinking. But not really a bean bag, more of a stuffed animal bag. I went to the craft room to start planning. I started my shadow box craft business the year my daughter was born. Over the past 11 years, I have collected a hefty stash of fabric. Times and styles have changed, so I have lots of fabrics that are not as popular as they once were. My challenge was to find enough yardage of six fabrics to make a cube and that matched her room and style. This is what I came up with: I didn’t have a pattern, but I knew I wanted to make a cube, so I cut all of the fabric into 24″ squares. To be honest, this kamikaze crafter cut the fabric into 36″ squares but it looked HUGE when pinned, so I started over. Once all of the fabric was cut to a normal size, I planned out which patterns would go where.
Time to start (re)pinning! I sewed all of the side pieces to each other with a 1/2″ seam allowance. I didn’t measure the seam allowance; I pinned the pieces together and I used a magnet guide positioned 1/2″ from my needle for a (near) perfectly straight line. When all of the sides were finished, I pinned the bottom piece on and sewed three of the four edges. On the fourth edge, I sewed a strip of Velcro that I found in my sewing kit and then stitched the other side of the Velcro to the remaining side piece. Now it was time to sew the side pieces to the top panel. This would be easy to do now that the bottom panel had one side completely open, thanks to my Velcro closure! Once all of the seams were sewn, I decided that I should reinforce the corners. This is where I apologize to the real sewers out there. I know how to wind a bobbin and thread a machine and press a pedal, but that’s as far as I go with sewing machines and proper sewing techniques. And this is where the Kamikaze Crafter steps in: I sewed a diagonal line across each corner with the notion that it would stop the seam from splitting once the bag got some use.
Again, I don’t use proper sewing etiquette, so no corners were snipped, no seams were ironed. I turned the cube right-side out and got to stuffing! The cube was big enough not only to fit the stuffed toys, but it also fit all of the autograph and BFF pillows she has accumulated. Once everything was inside, I sealed the Velcro, flipped the bag over, and hoped that the seams would hold when she sat on it. The big test would be two-fold: Would it hold once the toy bag was sat upon and would she like it? I am happy to report that I was two for two! I have to say that it felt good to check a box six months early on my Unlazy Days of Summer list, but it feels even better to wake her up in the morning and see an uncluttered. Think you’ll make one for your “collector?’ PS Did you know that I might have DIY skills, but my real expertise is as a Registered Dietitian, subscribing to a non-diet approach to wellness? We can chat about where you are struggling with your health, create a vision of what your happiest you looks like, and get some pointers and tips on how to get there.