Mili Kandoi, founder and proprietor of Mili-On Threads in Kolkata, began her business journey in 2002 with four embroidered organza sarees and a determination to build a life for herself and her son. Today she leads a 40-member team, curates hand zardozi embroidery and designer garments from ₹12,000 to ₹1,50,000, and has built a legacy boutique that her son Devansh is joining as a second-generation businessman.
Four Embroidered Sarees and the Courage to Begin
• Mili Kandoi was born and raised in Kolkata, studying at Modern High School, growing up in a joint family alongside two siblings. Her mother Meena Kandoi raised the family with grace and creativity, and her father's ill health gave Mili an early understanding of responsibility and resilience.
• She married at 18, immediately after Class XII, moving into an orthodox household where her confidence and independence were challenged at every turn for eight years. Through it all, she held on. Her mother stood by her financially. Her family surrounded her with love. And in course of time, she made the courageous decision to separate and begin life on her own terms.
• With the support of her mother, her brother, and her sister, she moved into her maternal joint family home in Hastings with her son Devansh. Her cousin brother gave her space to begin. And her mother, a creative mind, planted the seed: start with sarees.
• In 2002, Mili made four embroidered organza sarees. Her cousin bhabhi purchased all four instantly. Her cousin sisters spread the word by mouth. And from that first profit of ₹500, shared joyfully with her mother, a business was born.
Purity of Fabric, Intricacy of Craft, and a Promise That Has Held for Over Two Decades
• The founding wisdom came from her mother: always use the purest fabrics and give the best embroideries to your clients. That advice became the non-negotiable founding principle of Mili-On Threads.
• Mili specialises in hand zardozi embroidery, ari work, sequence embroidery, and thread and maal work, creating her own designs and sketches. Her machine embroidery is at par with handwork. The range spans from ₹12,000 for casual smart wear to ₹1,50,000 for exquisite lehengas, with kurta sets and co-ords that sell, in her own words, like hot cakes.
• Clients from eminent saree stores in Kolkata, Delhi, and Hyderabad began purchasing from her. Money came. Assets followed. Jewellery. Abroad travels. A flat in Alipur. A car. Three staff became many. And in 2008, guided by her brother's vision of working professionally, Mili opened a 1,000-square-foot store at Alipur Enclave Mall, paying ₹80,000 in monthly rent, a statement of scale she had earned entirely on her own terms.
• She expanded. She hired a designer. She gave him the factory. She learned the hardest lesson in business: never hand over your vision entirely to someone else. She came back to her core, to her craft, to her instinct, and she rebuilt.
The Turning Point — Just Imagine and a Mentor Who Changed Everything
• The turning point that changed everything arrived in 2019 when Mili found Mahesh Toshniwal, the founder of Just Imagine, a progressive global organisation headquartered in Kolkata, established in 2014 to connect individuals to harness the power of imagination and channelise it to attract supreme wealth, loving relations, permanent health, and successful careers.
• A wordsmith, sapient, lodestar, life success coach, and wealthsmith, Mahesh Toshniwal, known as MWT, is celebrated for bringing the WOW factor into everyone's lives through teachings backed by scientific laws of nature including the law of attraction, the law of reversibility, and principles of Metaphysics.
• He helped Mili understand that her thoughts shaped her son's reality. He guided her to plant seeds of abundance and business in Devansh's life. He gave her the vision to rebrand her label as Mili-On Threads. And through seven months of life success coaching during COVID, a period when her mall store remained closed and she still sent salaries to every team member, she rebuilt not just her business but her inner world.
• Devansh has now joined Mili-On Threads as a second-generation businessman, transforming it into a legacy store.
Scale and Real-World Impact
• Mili-On Threads operates with 40 permanent team members and 10 job workers for embroidery. The boutique curates lehengas, sarees, suits, and indo-westerns, all designed in-house with original sketches. Mili has now completed one year of business from her renovated store with Devansh by her side. Her karigars have built their homes through the wages her business provides. Clients across generations still wear her sarees a decade or two after purchase. Her mission is stated precisely: "With us, everyone grows."
A Heart Full of Gratitude
• In Mili's own words, her journey has been shaped by countless souls who stood by her and she carries deep gratitude toward every one of them.
• To Mahesh Sir, whose vision, guidance, and love transformed both her business and her son's life into one of abundance, joy, and purpose. To her mother, her brother, her bhabhi, her sister and her husband, and every relative who stood firmly beside her through every chapter of this journey. To every client who has been loyal to Mili-On Threads across these twenty-two years. To every artisan and vendor whose hands and hearts have shaped every garment that has left her store. To every Imaginist from Just Imagine whose warmth, love, and support have been a constant source of strength. And to every soul she has crossed paths with in this extraordinary journey, each one has contributed to the woman, the mother, and the businesswoman she is today.
• "I am supremely grateful to each artisan, vendor, client, and every soul whom I came across in this journey," Mili says. "Gratitude brings more reasons to be grateful for."
The Business Lesson — The Most Powerful Businesses Grow When Their Purpose Grows Beyond Themselves
• The sharpest lesson from Mili Kandoi's journey is this: the businesses that last for generations are the ones that begin with a personal purpose and grow into a collective mission.
• Mili began because she wanted to give her son the best life possible and create an income for them both. She grew because she gave clients the best fabric and the most intricate craft every single time. She sustained because her success became a vehicle for everyone around her, her team, her karigars, her clients, and now her son.
• "A business once started for fulfilling needs is now fulfilling lives and bringing joy in thousands of lives," she says.
• She wakes at 5 AM. She leads with kindness. She shares her profits with her team. And she has built a boutique where every garment, as she believes, is adding joy and celebration to the life of every person who wears it.
She started with a belief. She built a legacy.
Source: WOWNEWS24X7
