Masterclass With Kritika Kamra: Building A Sustainable Brand With Purpose

Kritika Kamra, an actor and entrepreneur, believes that successful businesses start with purpose you genuinely care about. For her, this belief took shape in Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh, where a longstanding connection with local weavers became the foundation for Cinnabar, her Chanderi handloom label.

What began during the lockdown as a way to help weavers find buyers for their unsold stock, slowly found its own audience. Customers returned, word spread, and the community kept growing. That repeat interest gave Kamra the confidence to turn a passion project into a business with its own identity.

For Kamra, building Cinnabar is about knowing exactly who you are speaking to. It is a niche brand with a specific customer, a long-term vision, a strong point of view. She believes founders have to be comfortable with steady growth when they are building something rooted in craft, quality and meaning.

Her approach extends to marketing. She wants customers to buy Cinnabar because they love the saris, with the brand’s values naturally reflected in how the business operates. The company stays lean, keeps its team close, stays personally involved in the process.

In her masterclass for new founders, Kamra shares the lessons behind building a business from the ground up: how to research an idea before investing in it, understand your finances, recognise when to ask for help, find people who complement your strengths, adapt when plans change.

She also speaks candidly about the pressure women face to do everything at once. Her own experience with her mother as co-founder has taught her the value of different strengths working together.

Her message to new founders is grounded in patience: build something you believe in, understand the business behind the idea, give the customer a reason to return.