Shouger Merchant
Shouger Merchant is the Co-Founder of The Story Merchants, a company that manufactures educational toys and games for children. Previously a lawyer from Chicago, Shouger often grappled with the concept of being answerable to someone else's hours, timings and mode of working. She always had an entrepreneurial instinct and felt that she could market products better than some existing brands were doing. Once she had her son, Shouger had to step away from her job as a lawyer, but did not intend to be a stay-at-home mother. Thus, when her son was 6 months old, she co-founded the Pinwheel Project, a mom and kids bi-annual exhibition that housed products and services from over 130 brands and gave them a platform to raise awareness about their goods and market and sell them. Shouger started The Story Merchants a year and a half later along with her mom, after she recognized the utility for educational products through her work for the Pinwheel Project. Most recently, along with 4 of her friends, she has launched the Rainmaker Marketing Bootcamp, a one-time consultancy to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Shouger is presently also authoring a book for Penguin India on parenting. Shouger received her JD from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
Her Company:
The Story Merchants manufactures products for children between 6 months to 10 years of age. They provide pretend play tools to increase a child's vocabulary and language development skills. With a wide product offering ranging from puzzles and board games to bingo and card games, as well as books authored by their team, The Story Merchants provide an educational system based on storytelling and getting children to do the talking and express themselves.
Her Journey:
Shouger believes that when you start a business, you need a broad vision but you need to be clear on execution every step of the way. For her, the motivation was purely being able to add value to someone's life. She has always felt that each of her companies adds value to those who engage with them in different ways. While entrepreneurs’ goals may be strong numbers, her vision is simply to create utility because when there are ups and downs in the business, that vision is what she clings to.
Website: https://thestorymerchants.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestorymerchants/?hl=en
