Mattress maker Sheela Foam's high growth in an underpenetrated market has pushed Rahul Gautam, the chairman and managing director, up the rankings of the Forbes Billionaire's list
Rahul Gautam, chairman and managing director of mattress-maker Sheela Foam, best known for its Sleepwell brand, recounts how his late mother started the business back in 1971. She was 39 at the time, widowed and had two young teens, including Gautam, to care for. “She had been a housewife up until then and it would have been the order of the day to remain one,” says the 69-year-old. But she was determined to reverse her misfortune. The army rehabilitation plan enabled her to obtain a licence or permit to do business—the Licence Raj prevailed, and her husband had been a devoted army man. She took it even though she had no business connects or capital.