Tinku sharma chronicle

OPTOMETRY & ENTREPRENEURSHIP
- TINKU SHARMA

SEPTEMBER 2021 | ISSUE 11 PAGE 01

OPTOMETRY
&

ENTERPRENEURSHIP

“Every individual is different

and so is every professional

and entrepreneur”
-Tinku Sharma

I was born in 1975 to a middle class family in Aligarh, Uttar After completing first year, my friend Prem Kumar Singh
Pradesh, India. I was average in academics when I completed and I understood the difference between orthoptics and
my intermediate education and had no idea what to do next. optometry, only to realize that the course didn’t have a lot of
My friend Deepak Rajoria and I were asked to collect an scope in the future. As first year remains constant for both
application form from Gandhi Eye Hospital, one of the well- courses, we got ourselves directly admitted into the second
known hospitals in Aligarh. The institute was offering two year of the bachelor’s degree in optometry, after completing
different types of courses, diploma in orthoptics and diploma 2 years in orthoptics. These courses were conducted by the
in optometry. As we were not aware about these courses, we UP state medical faculty and it took me a lot of time and
collected one of the forms, filled it and it turned out to be effort to get though, but this was my first big success and it
diploma in orthoptics. As the course was in the field of gave me lot of confidence to move on in life.
medicine and healthcare, no one in my family objected to it
and I joined the course in 1994.

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SEPTEMBER 2021 | ISSUE 11 PAGE 02

I decided to move to Delhi for job Life was not easy at LVPEI as only 60-70% students would
opportunities and landed a position at complete their fellowship successfully. The rest would leave the
Venu Eye Institute in South Delhi. After course as they were unable to cope with the high standards,
the initial training period, I shifted to their culture shock, difference in food and language, etc. Having
satellite hospital at Sonipat, Haryana. Life studied in Hindi medium, I found it difficult to cope too. My
was going well until one evening when I friends Gurmeet Singh Bhandari and Deepa Varghese helped me
happened to meet my dear friend, Sanjeev during this period. I successfully completed my fellowship in 2000
Singh, who was a fellow from LVPEI. He and these two years stand to be the golden years of my life, till
gave me an understanding of the work this day. I cannot forget the memories, experience and confidence
that goes on at LVPEI and how my I gained at LVPEI. Those two years changed my life completely.
knowledge was limited in comparison to
what I would learn at LVPEI. That was I returned to Aligarh after my fellowship and landed a job at Dr.
when I decided to pursue a fellowship at Shroff Charity Eye Hospital, Daryaganj, Delhi. I managed to get a
LVPEI. I got selected after an interview decent pay and that was a dream come true moment for me.
with Dr. Vijaya Kumari, Mr. Rajeev and Mr. However, I soon lost interest as it was not matching the practice
Ghanshyam Singh. standards I had learnt at LVPEI. I always discussed with my dear
friend Prem about returning to LVPEI and working there. As a
Copyright 2014, All Rights Reserved @www.aloptom.com true friend, Prem would counsel me to try and stay for some time
and give it another shot. Even though I got myself to settle down,
I was missing my passion to work and hence decided to move
soon.

This time, the destination was Dubai. I was looking for
opportunities in dispensing and opticals. I had no work
experience in this field and making that decision was risky at that
moment. My mother stuck by my decision but my father however
was against me leaving my then position, even though his
concerns were genuine. What’s life without a few risks, right?
I landed in Dubai, without a work visa. It was a challenge to get
the documents attested to work at Dubai. I had to return to India
after a year of running around for documents and visa. However,
within a few weeks of my return, I got a call from my agent saying
that all my documents were signed. Within a month, with the help
of my dear friend Gurmeet, I was back in Dubai with a work visa.
It was another dream come true. In this difficult period of my life,
my friend Sangeeta, whom I knew since 1995 stood by me firmly
and helped me gain self-confidence. Sangeeta was my junior at
LVPEI and we also worked together at Dr. Shroff Charity Eye
Hospital, Delhi. Knowingly or unknowingly we were moving
together in life. After knowing each other for 8- years we decided
to settle down in life. In 2003, we got married and settled in
Dubai. Life was going well both personally and professionally.

SEPTEMBER 2021 | ISSUE 11 PAGE 03

I was enjoying this job, compared to working in
hospital. Being an optometrist, giving a good
prescription is not enough, one needs to
provide the patient with perfect vision
correction in a pair of spectacles by choosing a
suitable frame, appropriate lenses, or suitable
contact lens, etc. Seeing true happiness on the
patient’s face gave me lot of pleasure. This
habit of seeing happiness on my patient’s face
took another twist in my life. After working for
4 years, I decided to turn into an entrepreneur.

My dear friend and senior, Arumugam Sivvaji
(Aru), who worked with me for 4-years at Al
Jaber Opticals, suddenly decided to move back
to India. He then decided to start an optical
outlet called Purple Optics in Chennai. One find
day, when we were discussing the possibilities,
I suggested that we could create a professional
optical chain in India. He liked the idea and I
moved to India to implement this plan.
I was contemplating between Delhi and
Chennai and much to my family and friend’s
dismay, I decided to settle in Chennai. It was
not an easy decision as my wife was still
working in Dubai and we had to leave our
daughter, Ria at my parents’ when I moved to
Chennai.

Aru was in disbelief that I have left my job and
landed in Chennai once for all. Looking at my
courage, we started hunting for a place to open
the 2nd branch of Purple Optics and within 3-
months, we opened our 1st partnership store
and from then on we have never looked back.
As of today, we are having 47 showrooms in and
around Chennai, Coimbatore and Puducherry.
We are a group of 6 partners, of which 4 are
from other areas of business.

Our focus was always on quality eye care as we
are both from premium eye institutes of India
and gained business acumen from Dubai. All
our stores have a slit lamp, phoropter and an
auto refractometer with projector, which might
not be a common sight in other optical outlets.
Today, none of us work on the front end of the
business. We let our staff make things
successful and possible and continue what we
started 16-years ago. We do not compromise
on quality and dispense only quality and
premium products from leading brands of
spectacle lenses and contact lenses. Due to our
core values, we were able to sustain even
during the last two waves of Covid-19, which
affected every business in the world.

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SEPTEMBER 2021 | ISSUE 11 PAGE 04

We feel more delighted and proud when our staff provide quality service and not just by the increased sales number. Numbers are always
reached when your process and purpose are right. Life has always been challenging as I had to prove myself to my own family members
and friends and that made me achieve and become what I am today. Work is my passion and life.
I would like to thank my life partner for being my biggest strength and support. She sacrificed her work and professional career to take
care of my family and is now a full time director at home.
Follow your dreams and you will be happy. Dreams are not a coincidence and your dream is who you are. Dreams give you a sense of
meaning, purpose and drive you into your future.
Set small and large goals for yourself and track your progress to keep yourself motivated and be prepared for setbacks in life. Think about
your goal each minute until you achieve it.
Every individual is different and so is every professional and entrepreneur. Follow what suits you the best.
It might sound clichéd, but “picture Abhi Baki Hai” ----- I still have more thoughts and dreams which will soon turn into reality.

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