LEADING THE PACK| PREETI SANJEEV KUMAR, 38

Her father always scolded her for bringing stray dogs home and she often had to spend the night out in the courtyard with them. But little did Preeti Sanjeev Kumar know that her love for dogs would unleash the entrepreneurial spirit in her and make her quit as a teacher post at Holy Child School. She then decided to follow her passion for animals.

In 2005, she, along with her husband Sanjeev Kumar, who quit his job at HDFC, started Pet Bytes, a pet shop chain that sold pet grooming equipment and food. But this wasn’t enough for her. She went to Thailand for a dog grooming course and in 2007 opened Scoopy Scrub, a dog grooming parlour. The company has now branched out to several franchises across the country and offers a host of pet- care services— from basic grooming, walking, and training to organising weekend getaways with your pets and even giving them massages. “When I started out almost a decade ago, there were no proper grooming services available for dogs in India and I felt that was the need of the hour,” she says. Nowadays, it doesn’t take long to build a client list as well with many pet owners finding it difficult to squeeze in grooming time for their pets in their busy schedules but back then, there were a very few people signing up for dog grooming services. “It was tough to establish myself, but against all odds, my love for pets and professional expertise helped me succeed,” she says. And though the initial investment in the business was low and the returns have increased over the years, Kumar says her true reward will always be the happy dogs that walk out of her salon. “The loving licks and the wagging tails are my payments,” she says.

The loving licks and the wagging tails are my payments.