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profile Sporting passion fires Mrinal’s career success

As a youngster, Mrinal Madina had high hopes of becoming a professional cricketer but, as is often the case, it didn’t quite turn out that way. While he didn’t get to fulfil his dreams of scoring a century at Lords, he used his passion for sport to establish his current venture. 2k Tiger is a business growth specialist that helps clients manage all manner of events, including sporting occasions and corporate get-togethers.

Mrinal founded the company in 2019 after gaining specialist experience in running golf, cricket and charity events. Overall, he has built up 20 years’ experience in event creation and management, from running global sales training programmes to small-scale conferences.

He recalls: “I wanted to be a professional cricketer. I took up the game at the age of nine and two years later I was in the county team in Derbyshire, but I didn’t really get many chances in the team. My face didn’t really fit so, although I loved sport – cricket and golf in particular – I knew I had to do something else with my career.”

He went to the University of East Anglia and studied business management before heading to London to find work. After landing a job in IT, the credit crunch came along but Mrinal’s resourcefulness and eye for a business opportunity eventually saw him create a new start-up venture, Cadin.

“It was an online platform that connected coaches and golfers,” he recalls. “It was the wrong time and we didn’t have the money to build an app so it didn’t work out as I’d hoped.”

In 2014 Mrinal joined a Chiswick-based creative learning consultancy, Deliverers, where he managed corporate training and events and built e-learning projects for prestigious companies such as Vodafone, Saks Fifth Avenue, Welding Alloys and Merck. While he was there, he was approached by a couple of guys to launch a new marketing agency, The Ad Store. Mrinal comments, “This was great experience but eventually I decided to take the plunge and go solo”.

In launching 2k Tiger, Mrinal was motivated by his passion for events and a vision for building a business based in Chiswick, West London, closer to home, that serviced the needs of businesses in the local area. Even the name of the company is a nod to his passion for sport.

“I love golf, and was inspired to start playing by Tiger Woods,” he says. “There weren’t many ethnic minorities playing elite-level golf when Tiger entered the profession. He has changed the game and taken it to another level. I wanted to recognise this within my own company. He has shown that sometimes you fail but you can better yourself by learning from your mistakes.

“I’m constantly learning and developing. As time has evolved, I’ve realised the importance of building a really strong team. I actually built the team and then brought the work in, not the other way round.”

Alongside Mrinal’s personal development, 2k Tiger has also evolved. It started life as an events management firm and has now morphed into becoming a business growth specialist, helping clients to win new work, build relationships and conduct staff engagement activities. “We’ve branched out,” Mrinal says. “Now we’re involved in strategy, content and production, venue finding, event management, business clubs and the delivery of effective tailored training solutions through our 2k Tiger Academy. We also connect business golfers globally and we’re creating golf clubs in cities such as Munich and Oslo. I’m involved with the World Golf and Business Club, which is a platform connecting business golfers regionally, nationally and locally. We’re also creating a property technology company to build a support infrastructure of professionals in this space.

“When the pandemic hit, it was challenging but I switched to virtual events and this worked well. We’ve run 30 virtual events in the last 18 months, including the Hounslow Chamber of Commerce Business Awards.

“I want to help people realise their dreams, whether that’s supporting them to grow their business or get into a position where they can sell their business.”

“I enjoy my work and I love meeting people and building long-lasting relationships with them. Building trust and respect are important. If people believe you can solve their problems and add value to their business, they will work with you.”

Mrinal is now part of the Chamber’s advisory board

I want to help people realise their dreams, whether that’s supporting them to grow their business or get into a position where they can sell their business.