“Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out,” said John Wooden. Ms. Jenifer Y personifies this quoted line. Born and raised in Chennai, India, this young woman always dreamt of becoming a doctor from her childhood. However, her father did not have the means to support this dream financially. Not one to give up on her ambition, Jenifer chose to opt for something closest to becoming a doctor. She took took up Diploma in Dental Technology.  While studying for the diploma, she developed a passion for the subject and graduated with sincerity. It was during the course that she discovered a great business opportunity in the field of dental technology. She immediately began saving for her business.  Jenifer now lives in Ramapuram, Chennai with her husband, Mr. Shriraj. She is a mother to two daughters. Both husband and wife are diploma holders in Dental Technology from Saveetha Dental College. As per Jenifer’s plan, as soon as they obtained their diplomas, the duo headed straight to initiate their venture in 2007. They set up Oscar Dental with some monetary support from Jenifer’s father to begin their business. However, that capital was not enough to procure equipment required to expand their business. Hence, they bought two machines on credit from the market and repaid the loans within six months. This helped them build a goodwill for themselves. When they began, Jenifer would design the moulds for all the orders by herself. The process was manual, extremely detail-oriented, and time-consuming. The products had to be handcrafted according to the scanned blueprint. The time she needed to do this became a hindrance in accepting large orders that were coming her way, thus hindering the growth of her business.  This was when she thought automation would be able to solve the problem she was facing. However, automation would need funding. Fortunately for Jenifer, she got in touch with BYST at this opportune moment. It was with the support from BYST that she was able to get a loan of Rs. 17 lakhs from Indian Overseas Bank (Ramapuram Branch, Chennai). The loan helped her procure an imported designing machine which made her deliver more orders with greater precision, in lesser time. BYST helped her with mentoring support, loan enhancement and trainings. These gave her the exposure she needed to reflect upon her business growth plans and set bigger targets for herself. Jenifer’s mentor Mr. Haribhaskaran guided her from day one and helped her streamline her business. This set her on to the right path for her to achieve her dreams for her company. One of the first things he helped her identify were the gaps in bookkeeping. With tips from him, she has learnt to create and maintain a reserve for emergency utilization and does not put the entire income back into the business. Before he intervened, Jenifer did not have a proper book of accounts. She accounted the payments & purchases category-wise.  Today, Oscar Dental manufactures and supplies artificial teeth and tooth caps. Their products use eco-friendly materials, and they use a non-polluting production process. They also play an active role in creating awareness about preventive dental care covering gum-loss and bone loss in women. An ISO certified organization, Oscar Dental’s products are manufactured with 60% machine intervention and 40% manual customization. Their technicians are trained to match the colour of implants to natural teeth, thus giving them an edge over other manufacturers.  Jenifer plans to go for an expansion loan as soon as the dental health industry stabilises from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Oscar Dental plans to capture a larger share of India’s dental treatment market which is  estimated to be at Rs 1,000,000 crores by 2022. They plan to set up a 5000 sq ft manufacturing facility near Chennai by 2022, with a capacity to manufacture 150 artificial teeth & implants daily. A dental clinic and research centre are also part of the plan. The company has adopted state–of–the–art technology and plans to install advanced machineries. Their plans for the next 5 years are to: Develop 25 skilled workers in the next one year to improve production and enhance capacity utilization of existing machinery, Create systems and procedures to improve productivity and margins, Increase customers base from 70 to 125 clinics, Meet dental treatment needs of thousands of rural Indian women. Jenifer believes strongly in making the world a better place to live. To build harmony across the globe, Oscar Dental pursues UN SDGs in the following ways: End Poverty in all its forms everywhere – Jenifer specifically selects her employees from marginalized sections of society. She plans to train at least 100 school dropouts & disabled people in 5 years.

Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing of all – Oscar Dental’s high-quality products are affordable by elders, pregnant women and also the poor. Jenifer won the prestigious JRD TATA Award in 2018. A first-generation entrepreneur from a lower socio-economic background, she not only overcame financial difficulties, but also shattered many gender stereotypes to setup a successful venture in the highly sophisticated Dental Implants Industry.  This daughter of a small-time construction labourer today employs 26 people directly and indirectly supports another 104. Her zeal to contribute to the society, makes her design processes to deliver cost-effective, yet high quality tooth implants. Quality wise, her products are at par with high-end artificial teeth supplied by multinationals. Their longevity is also much better than handmade local products thereby benefitting thousands of poor patients.  Based on each patient’s diagnosis provided by the dentist, Jenifer and her team analyse the patient’s history and discuss the details of design as well as the size of tooth before customizing the cap, bridges, and dentures. Oscar Dental’s skills lie in bringing the natural colour of the patient’s teeth to the artificial tooth by creating layers of Dentine and Enamel. Their focus is on restoration of natural teeth, and they advise implantation of teeth only if it is necessary.