Prachi and Samantha’s story: mentoring is a key ingredient for mutual success

Prachi Robinson, a baker who lives in Hyderabad, India, had ambitions to set up her own bakery. She had fantastic ideas and delicious products in the pipeline, but wanted the support of mentor to guide her through planning and launching. In May 2023, she joined our Mentoring Women in Business programme, where we matched her with Samantha McGrane, an Enterprise Sales Manager at PayPal in Dublin, Ireland – one of our programme’s partners. Together, they worked to support Prachi to step into entrepreneurship and launch P.A.L’s Pâtisserie, with a host of achievements under their belts.

Early days: Turning passion into profession  

Despite being a computer applications graduate with an MBA in marketing and HR, Prachi’s real passion lies in baking. When the time was right, she decided to take things from pastime to profession: “I have been a big foodie since my childhood and I attribute my skills and passion for baking to my parents. Their encouragement has been a constant source of motivation. 

When I got married, I got my own kitchen, and I started experimenting with baking for my family and friends. Once my daughter was old enough that I could spend more time on work, and with my husband and in-laws’ support, I felt inspired to launch my own baking business from home. I knew what I wanted to do, I had four products in mind, and I knew the name of my business, but I needed clarity as to how to actually execute everything. I was already a member of HEN India, one of the Foundation’s partners, so I joined the Mentoring programme through them.” 

Samantha meanwhile had experienced firsthand how mentorship can play a crucial role in a person’s career, and was keen to make an impact: “Having been blessed to achieve incredible personal growth with my own mentor, I wanted to share my experiences and pass the skills that I’ve developed on to someone else on that same trajectory, to support the next generation of professionals. I also wanted to give back to a community – particularly one that wouldn’t necessarily have as much support to be able to drive forward – so when the opportunity came up, I decided to join the programme as a mentor. 

A solid process 

Prachi and Samantha were matched together. Right from the start of their relationship, they invested into setting a collaborative and supportive foundation based on trust, good communication and mutual respect.

“As women in general we can be so afraid to put our hands up and say something or ask a question in fear of being wrong and making a mistake,” shares Samantha, “Prachi and I wanted to have an open environment for making mistakes so that in those moments that we could learn from them and not feel shame.”  

From this, they set goals for their year together, identifying where Prachi wanted to be in 12 months and working back. Then, over the year, they collaborated through the purpose-built online Mentoring Women in Business platform to progress towards their goals. The relationship was personal as much as professional, mentions Samantha: “It’s very hard to not have a relationship with a mentor or a mentee without having a personal relationship, because you have to understand what their challenges are, what their struggles are.”

Setting a foundation of trust and understanding upfront really paid off, with Prachi noting that “Samantha supported me in everything, in every possible way, so this programme is a must for me – I learned so many things from it and I’m seriously thankful.”  

That the mentor-mentee relationship is cross-border is a key ingredient to participants’ successes. Prachi shares this view: “I loved having a mentor from another country. You get to learn about their culture and see how things are done differently in another part of the world. It’s great if you’re a baker like me as you can get ideas for your products!” 

The Foundation’s Mentoring team, too, was there to provide guidance and structure along the journey. Prachi highlights that “The people are very supportive at the Foundation. If you send them an e-mail you get an immediate reply. They are always open to help you.” 

Overcoming challenges and achieving goals 

An early challenge was that Prachi had a fantastic business idea but felt she didn’t know how to fully execute it. According to Samantha, “Sometimes in business you can’t see the woods for the trees. You may have a fantastic business idea but everything just feels so heavy, so we needed to strip that back.” Conscious that there were many paths that her business could take, the pair built Prachi’s business plan by outlining strategic steps towards where Prachi wanted her business to be in five and 10 years, making sure that they dreamed big.

A common challenge for women entrepreneurs is the need to occupy so many roles, making it hard to find time for professional development and running a business. Prachi shares, “Being a woman itself is a very big challenge! I have to play the role of mother, wife and baker. It’s very hard to find spare time for myself, even when I’m exhausted. But I’m a hard working person, I never like to give up.” Prachi and Samantha placed importance on flexibility so as to accommodate each other’s busy schedules, and Samantha also made a practice of jotting down key points in their meetings and sharing these with Prachi afterwards to support her. 

Prachi also experienced a setback in her personal life right around the time she was due to launch her business that meant she couldn’t work in the kitchen, but she didn’t let this hold her back. Instead she shifted her plans and used the time for research and development, and building her communications strategy and business plan, with Samantha noting that “instead of looking at things as a complete setback and taking her foot off the gas, she pivoted to work around her circumstances. We kept the lines of communication open and when she was able to fully commit again she was so reinvigorated and even more confident in her abilities and her business plan. She made an immediate impact.” 

Mutual successes 

Thanks to her talent and determination, Prachi was not only able to successfully launch her business during the programme, but to start growing revenue and profits through several strategies that she identified with Samantha. While the quality of her products has always been central – everything is lovingly made and preservative-free – the pair worked to diversify these to include vegan and gluten-free, as well as identifying new sales platforms and approaches to grow her markets and customers. 

When she set out, Prachi had originally planned to sell through one particular online marketplace, but it quickly became apparent that this would isolate her revenue and hold back growth. To unlock new revenue streams, Prachi started looking at wholesale, working with other entrepreneurs to pair her products with them and catering for birthday parties. “Samantha gave me ideas for boosting revenue – now I’m doing pop up stalls in coworking spaces, and meeting with start-ups to discuss corporate gifting,” says Prachi, “We also planned out some healthy product options so that I can sell through gyms.”

Samantha notes that, in just a short amount of time, Prachi has blossomed into an incredible saleswoman: “As a one-woman enterprise, she needs to be the marketing person, she needs to be the sales leader, she needs to wear many hats. We did a lot of sales coaching and now she uses a leads list to build her customers. She also has over 60,000 followers on Instagram – she’s really built up a community and used it as a tool for growing her business.” 

Overcoming her shyness and building her confidence were key outcomes for Prachi that she credits to her mentor’s support – they’re even making plans for Prachi to present to Samantha’s team at PayPal, something she would never have had the confidence to do before her mentorship. 

Prachi has also joined a few groups for Indian women entrepreneurs and hosted meetings for them – up to 50 women at a time – with Samantha sharing that “Prachi has given other women confidence to network. It’s so important to enable women to come together to discuss their ideas and she’s now fostering that in her environment which is fantastic.” 

Ultimately, during her time on the programme, Prachi has achieved a fantastic set of accomplishments. Samantha summarises things well: “In terms of goals, what we set versus what we’ve achieved has been huge”, with Prachi also noting that she was delighted to have gone even further than attaining than the goals they set together. 

Our programme holds huge benefits for mentors too. In Samantha’s words, “Prachi completely educated me – especially in social media! The whole experience has significantly impacted me. I’ve been able to support someone to develop and grow, and I’ve made a difference in terms of community – there’s a great feeling that comes with that. But there’s also the aspect of leadership and communication skills development. My biggest take away is learning to be a better listener and to coach others instead of just telling them the answer. That’s something I’ve definitely gotten better at over the last year, which has then fed back into my work at PayPal. It’s funny that in moments where you think that you’re giving, you’re actually receiving.” 

What’s next for Prachi’s business? 

Prachi has some fantastic ambitions: “I don’t want to limit myself, I want to grow – to have my business span across India. With my first salary, I wanted to buy something for myself, my husband and my daughter – it’s the excitement of having your own money! But now I’m reinvesting all my profits back into the business – into new equipment and appliances.

I’m doing pop up stalls and getting calls from more coworking spaces, so I want to rent or buy a kitchen where I can experiment and bake more. I’m also building a payment gateway into my website so I can make my sales there instead of through another platform – that way I can build my brand more effectively. I’m a self-taught baker, so I’m planning to take a few classes to upgrade my skills, too, so that I can build on my artistry and offer. Lastly, I’m planning to apply for a government loan to expand my business, with a bigger kitchen and more appliances. Samantha gave me the idea – there are a lot of schemes like this in India, especially for women business owners, so this is my next big move.”

It’s clear that Prachi’s successes so far mark the start of a huge number of future wins, as she notes: “My success means a lot for me; for my family. I always had self-limiting thoughts, but now I know that I want to scale my business and take it pan-India, and I cannot do that from my kitchen, I have to hire somewhere. So I’m proud that I know what I want to do, that I’m clear in my ideas and strategies for the future, and that I will do it – I won’t stop now. And I’m lucky to have a supportive network around me – even now, when I encounter challenges, I still turn to my parents for advice. There is still plenty of time to go, but from where I was to where I am today, I’m doing great, and that’s because of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women’s programme.” 

Prachi’s parting wisdom for other women? “My advice to women running or considering starting a business is to always believe in yourself. As women, we often wait for the “right” time due to the many responsibilities we carry. However, it’s essential to carve out even just a few hours to plan and pursue what you want to achieve. While challenges will inevitably arise, finding solutions on your own not only builds confidence but also makes the journey more rewarding. With resilience and a positive mindset, we can turn challenges into opportunities for growth and learning.”