Conquering skies!

At 17, she launched herself passionately into the basics of aviation. Five years later, people thought her dream career could shatter due to the devastating revelation then that she had cancer. Now, at 29, she is the moving force behind JetSetGo, a successful aviation aggregator company.

That’s the inspirational success story Kanika Tekriwal, who shines among the star Under 30 retail and e-commerce entrepreneurs across Asia. A Mumbai girl belonging to a traditional Marwari family, Kanika grew up with business acumen in her genes. Typically like in many Marwari families and somewhat filmy, it was the predictable scene of a teenage girl, just out of college, getting into an arranged marriage, dreamy-eyed and full of romantic hopes.

She attests my assessment: “I always knew that I would be running a business of my own, though my parents were all prepared to pack me off into a ‘nice Marwari family,’ which would have put my chances of doing business near zero.”

Choices aren’t always ours; yet, learning from decisions made for us and standing strong to achieve our goal, is what really matters. The quintessence is Kanika. She was sent to Ooty Boarding School at Lovedale. She later graduated from Mumbai University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and then obtained an MBA in Finance from Coventry University in the UK. She focused on her dream career after obtaining a Diploma in Visual Communication. She says opportunities knocked at the right time for her.

Every phase of life has a meaning. Kanika tapped it right. She says, “Of course, being sent off to boarding school wasn’t my decision, but it definitely helped me build character and gain a new perspective on life. It taught me the importance of grit, and, in many ways, survival. As for my further education, it was really just for the display of it all. I was already deep into my career by the time I had begun university.”

She was 17 when she started working to realise her goal to make it big in aviation. She initially helped an Indian company to set up, from a scratch, an aviation division in New Delhi. With plans of flourishing as an entrepreneur, Kanika returned to Mumbai. One bright day turned rather gloomy for her when she received the shock of her life. “My mother and I were having a casual, laidback ladies’ night. The next moment, the general medical test results I was waiting for arrived with a shocking message: “We’re very sorry, but you have cancer.”

“In just a few minutes, my life completely turned upside down. But, over the next two days, I said to myself, ‘It’s time to defeat cancer.’ Fighting was my only option. So, then the question was no longer, “Will I recover?” It quickly became, ‘Who will I be, when I do recover?”

“And, that’s how JetSetGo manifested. I spent my eight months of treatment analysing, planning, and structuring my vision, and I made it happen.” JetSetGo was developed from the germ of an idea she had shared over a cup of coffee with her colleague at the UK. Her colleague and many others laughed at her. But, she did not lose her confidence and composure, then and ever since she received the negative feedback.

After recovering from cancer, she moved from Mumbai to Delhi with little money in her pocket. Although nervous in the beginning, her belief in her vision and the faith that some of her friends had in her made targets accessible in short span.

Gleaming with excitement, Kanika says, “JetSetGo was officially launched in November 2014. With support from business mogul Sudheer Perla, superstar investors cricketer Yuvraj Singh and Puneet Dalmia, our start-up took off from one flight per month to seven JetSetGo flights every single day now. We have captured 20 per cent of the market and expect to reach 80 per cent by 2022.”

Having come a long way in a very short span, she’s proud to have clients like CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, the well-known Ferragamo family, Bollywood houses and sports people.

And, there are amazing perks for being in the aviation space. “We flew a client’s grandfather from Delhi to Chennai just in time for a liver transplant. To do good work is indeed amazing,” she remarks.

Bubbling with ideas for a rosy future, Kanika shares the mantra in which she believes deeply: “I’ve learned to take each and every ‘no’, turn it into a ‘yes’ and then use it as a stepping stone to success. You can’t plan everything, but you can be prepared, determined, and confident.”

By: Divya Rao