Welspun CEO Dipali Goenka shares her $1 billion textile empire journey: From homemaker to billion-dollar business

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the billion-dollar textile empire, Welspun Living, Dipali Goenka, in an interview with Mint, shared her journey from an 18-year-old to becoming a female leader in an otherwise male-dominated industry.

In the interview, Dipali Goenka shared her life lessons, drive, personal strengths, and ambition, along with the challenges she faced to bring the company to its current level.

Day starts at 6 a.m.?

Dipali Goenka, at the age of 18, married the Indian textile businessman Balkrishan Goenka, also known as B.K. in the industry. After marriage, she shifted from Jaipur to Mumbai and then ended up setting a life for herself in the city.

Goenka even said that her early life and her journey from Jaipur to Mumbai in some form set the tone for where she is now today, leading one of the biggest corporate firms.

“I had the family circumstances, but again I believe that the versatility the resilience that I can see and sense now about myself coming from Jaipur to Bombay (Mumbai), finding my way out, setting down here, setting my home, having children finding their way out there in Bombay has been very interesting as well and I guess that's what I think set the tone for where I am today,” said Goenka.

Now the 55-year-old Goenka starts her day by waking up every day at 6:00 a.m., as she looks forward to completing her daily workout goals and getting her daily dose of caffeine hit, one before workout and one after.

Homemaker to CEO?

When asked if she would have done anything differently in her journey from being a homemaker at the start to now leading the home textile giant, Dipali Goenka responded that she would never do that, as her character would not be shaped as it is today if things had been different.

“No, I wouldn't because I guess that's been the character that shaped me up That's where the circumstances shaped my way of being what I am today Because imagine that resilience from coming to a new city setting settling down here without anybody's support and set you know starting a brand like spaces on my own when I didn't know anything in 2003 when I started I was a homemaker and just knew that I was a consumer just knew that I was using a towel in a sheet so that journey I'll never never you know take that away from myself,” Goenka told Mint.

Where it all began…

Goenka shared how, during her first visit to Europe in 1991, something motivated her to build the company to its current state. Dipali Goenka and her husband went to a towel manufacturer based in Belgium to buy machines for the ‘terry towel’ manufacturing plant in Vapi, Gujarat.

During their visit, the manufacturers called out the Goenkas, claiming that they don't know anything and will just be ‘putting their label’ on items. This eventually became the driving force and the starting point where it all began for Welspun's home textile business growth story.

“We met one of the terry towel manufacturers in Belgium in Brussels. They said that you Indians, do you know anything about what to make, how to make a towel right, and you will cut the label and put in your label. And that was my takeaway from that meeting. We came out of that meeting with a mind that boss, I'm going to prove you wrong,” said Goenka.

Work on your strengths!

The 55-year-old CEO shared how focusing on her strengths has helped her climb the corporate ladder in India's male-dominated textile industry. This move helped her overcome the challenges which came her way.

“There are certain things that you really are… they are your strengths by the way you play on them, and that's what I started working with. In 2010, you're entering a textile factory where they're male-dominated. You sit in a room they're just only men. So, I played on my strengths, not only in terms of what the consumer would want, but also in how I sell that product to get more women in diversity in the organisation, because that's the balance you need,” said Goenka.

Goenka's advice to 18-year-old self

Dipali Goenka, sharing some advice to her younger 18-year-old self, mentioned that one should hold on and view this life as a ‘journey’, your success is not a destination, but is something which evolves.

“Hi Dipali, I'm your version at 55 today. Hold on, hang on there and just take this life as a journey where success is not a destination, but it's something that you'll continue to evolve, and it's an evolution process, and keep learning,” said Goenka.

Looking forward, she said that her focus will be on ‘learning something new’ and keeping her attention on her health. She also emphasised her desire to learn artificial intelligence (AI) skills ‘to learn about this new new world.’

On a professional front, Dipali Goenka said she is excited to ‘building a legacy out of living.’

“Professionally, I think building a legacy out of living is what I'm looking at and what I'm excited about, and I think when I say that there are challenges, it is what excites me more than anything else,” said Goenka.