Background
Harpreet was born in Dehradun, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. When she was young,her parents moved to Delhi, so the schooling was there. College was at Miranda House,University of Delhi, where she majored in World History.
However,everything changed when she graduated.
She says;
“After graduation like many young people who don’t know what to do, I joined by chance one of the leading women’s polytechnics to pursue a graduate course in Fashion Designing.” Luckily, by the end of the course she got a job in one of Delhi's leading export houses.
Talking about her father’s role in her achievements, Harpreet mentions: “I give a lot of that credit to my dad because he was visionary. I call him ‘visionary’ because in our generation not many fathers were supportive, or encouraging for their daughters to be self – sufficient or educated, keeping careers in mind.’’ Unlike other fathers, Harpreet’s father was convinced that his daughters should build their own professional careers to be independent and always have the ability to be financially independant.
Building a career
Largely influenced by the envoirment at home, Harpreet did her post graduation in Fashion Designing. Her first work place was in one of the upcoming export houses, which are in fact manufacturing companies that manufacture fashion brands all around the world.
During her long career, Harpreet mostly worked with medium based manufacturing companies, but there were upper – based firms too. These companies collaborated with international brands like 'French Connection', 'C&A', and 'Primark'. Harpreet was working with “Span India”, a company owned by Naresh Gujral, the son of one of the former Indian Prime Ministers. Naresh Gujral's company played a role in Harpreet's life as she learned a lot there and met her current employer and designer, April Cornell.
Harpreet's leading star
The first time Harpreet met April Cornell was in 1987, the year when she got married. After that she joined Cornell's company which happened to be a great decision: “I joined her company in 1990, she has been a star in my life. We started the office with four people and I’ve just completed 25 years with her. We have 400 people now.”
April Cornell is an American designer and the owner of an eponymous brand. April and her husband started this company years ago by buying products out of Nepal and Afghanistan. Cornell’s company produces soft home furnishings and a wide range of girls’ and ladies’ wear . The range is manufactured in India with the highest levels of quality control. Currently the company works in an internationally approved factory.
Harpeet feels the organisation is run very professionally: “She visits the USA often, otherwise everything is reported and collaborated on the phone and emails.We now work with buyers apart from our own brand, some in the US,many now in Europe: Spain, Netherlands, UK – these are the markets we want to be in. We had some success and we have lots of marketing initiatives set up for doing business in the UK.”
Getting into the UK market
Today Harpreet has more close links with London than just the business ones: her daughter lives here in South Kensington, doing an MBA at The Imperial Business School. “UK is a bustling place, very appreciating of fashion. London is pulsating, I love this city,” – admits Harpreet.
One of her biggest goals is to build connections here and start some business with UK brands. Harpreet Sindhu believes there is a lot in common between India and Britain: “I think both countries have a great oppurtunity to do more business together; so London beckons me. The UK business opportunity beckons the country and because I have the opportunity , I think this is one of my newest goals for 2017.”
Comparing her home country with the UK, Harpreet believes that the latter has many advantages. The company she heads has the highest international standards of quality control as well as the social and economic parameters required by International Audit agencies.
What’s nextHarpreet has hopes for the future of her company, which according to her is a medium based top level firm. Sindhu recalls: "I know it is difficult to get the business as exporters and manufacturers are always looking for good buyers, but I am confident that good buyers are also looking for good manufacturers who have a strong background, a strong ethical standard of working and I think that’s where Cornell Overseas’ key strength lies.”
-----
"We started the office with four people and we have over 400 now.” April Cornell India Chief
