The 30 Most Powerful Men in Business

www.insightssuccess.in JUNE 2018

30

The

M o s t

POWERFUL

Men in

BUSINESS

Dilip Surana Chairman & MD

DILIP SURANA

An Ingenious Trailblazer of Pharmaceutical Vertical Creating Milestones in the Industry

Editorial

C

hallenges and failures are an inevitable part of human life. At some point of time, everyone experiences challenges of different magnitudes. Some of those challenges are relatively minor but some are equivalent to a catastrophe. It’s the sheer internal strength that assists humans in the times of a failure.

‘Resilience’ is that strength, the ability to bounce back even when the sub conscious mind convince us to quit. This quality is one of the top traits that should be imbibed into the character of any leader. This trait differentiates a leader from an entrepreneur. While an entrepreneur is a mogul, a leader is someone who always ready to chase bigger targets and dreams even after the encounter of bitter results in the middle. Such leader’s ‘Never-QuitAttitude’ always assists them in the longer run to craft a magnificent success story of their own.

In the past, we have read ample examples which reflect the pivotal role of ‘Resilience’ in shaping the destiny of any person. The story of inventor ‘Thomas Alva Edison’ is the best example of becoming a legend even after encountering a series of failures.

Cultivate Resilience: The Ultimate Power of Human Spirit

His failure saga has the content that can inspire any budding entrepreneur who wants to make it big in life. Even after failing thousand times, Edison never quit. His pursuit for creating incandescent bulb and robust self-belief in his idea never let his dream to die. In spite of struggling with critical failure throughout his life, Edison always marched ahead with full vigor. All of his failures did not demotivate him, instead aware him about his shortcoming to chase his dreams. He always learned from his mistakes and fought for making something unique that can revolutionize the world. His resilience gifted this word with some of the most fascinating inventions of all time like incandescent electric light bulb and the phonograph.

But one genuine question that many times arises in my mind is: what would have happened if Edison had quit in the middle? It’s hard to imagine what the world would look like had Edison given up after his first few failures.

His inspiring story is a testimony of creating milestones even after tasting subsequent failures and forces us to look at our own life. Do we have the resilience to overcome critical challenges? Or do we let our dreams to die in case of devastation?

Resilience at the core is what ultimately everyone needs in order to climb the success ladder as someone rightly said: toughness in the soul and spirit is needed the most as compared to toughness in the muscles to chase our dreams.

Ashwini Deshmukh

™

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Shraddha Deshpande Managing Editor Rajarshi Chatterjee Executive Editor Ashwini Deshmukh Contributors Ananda Das Sayali Rane Art & Design Director Amol Kamble Co-designer Shweta Ambilwade Picture Editor Alex Noel Art Editor Vanshika Mittal Visualiser Sapana Shinde Business Development Manager Akansha Garewal Marketing Manager Dhruv Apte Business Development Executives Rutuja, Joan, Shraddha Research Analyst David Circulation Manager Vivek Bangade Database Management Prashant Technology Consultant Swapnil Patil sales@insightssuccess.com

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COVER STORY

Dilip Surana: An Ingenious Trailblazer of Pharmaceutical Vertical Creating Milestones in the Industry

10 INTERVIEW WITH INSIGHTS SUCCESS

20 Global C: An Ace Engineering Design & Project Management Consulting Firm

28

UM Motorcycle: Riding High on the Success Trajectory with its Superb Motorcycles

Expert’s Opinion Leadership Strategies that Envelope the Success

Learning Steps What is tech in edtech: Challenges, Solutions, and Future

48

Vital-Trait 34 Delegation- A Vital Facet That Every Leader Should Possess to Reach Greater Heights

66

TALENT- 40 RETENTION Steps to Retain Good Employees in Order to Reach Optimum Levels of Success

Healthy Mind

Dazzling Wellness Centers, Perks and Amenities can Yield Better Productivity at Workplace

26 Aakrit Vaish: A Trendsetting Entrepreneur Building Ground-breaking Chatbots of 21st Century

Abhranshu DasGupta: A Herculean and Determined Business Leader

36 Akshar Peerbhoy: A Visionary and Creative Mind of Advertising Vertical

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38 Amit Saraff : A Zealous Leader on a Quest for Success

44 Amit Singh: Bringing VR to the Architectural Community

46 Anil Nagpal: A Humble Trailblazer who Reects Firmness with Fairness

50 Dr. C. Mathiazhagan:

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A Zealous and a Passionate Entrepreneur with a Robust Vision

Mohar V: Revolutionizing the World of Usability and Design

58 R Narayan An Assiduous Leader with an Innovative Streak

62 Rahul Sahdev: An Invigorating Entrepreneur Delivering Path Breaking Telecom Solutions

Subrat Parida: A Passionate Leader Delivering Best Business Solutions in the Field of AI

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The Trailblazers of Business Verticals

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here is a difference between good leaders and great leaders. A good leader takes care of the economic health of a company while a great leader along with the economic health takes care of its people as well. A great leader always believes in himself and shows a great zeal in every assignment.

Such leaders do not hesitate to make tough decision in order to enhance the lives of others around them and for the betterment of the company. Even be on the top of the stack, great leaders always ready to accept newer ideas even from their sub-ordinates and encourage an environment that can nurture creative thought process within the organization. Their meticulous attention to details in every project and a sharp eye on the performance of talented individuals makes them unique among equals. Even in the times of crisis such leaders not only believes in themselves but encourages their team members to sail smooth. Such leaders always ready to hire people who might be better than themselves and feel proud on the accomplishments of their juniors. Great leaders possess clear vision that match with company’s endeavors. Their high risk taking appetite, integrity, honesty, humility and clear focus assist them in attaining greater heights and lead them to earn praises not only within the organization but across the business spectrum. Therefore, to highlight the journey of some of the marvelous leaders in business vertical, we have come up with an issue of “The 30 Most Powerful Men in Business”.

On the cover, we have highlighted, Dilip Surana, Chairman and Managing Director of Micro Labs Pvt. Ltd. Micro Labs is a multi-faceted pharmaceutical company with a skilled marketing team, state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and R&D centers that are at par with international standards.

Along with it, we have showcased many other prominent business leaders of varied business domains that have built a niche in the market with their sharp business acumen and diligence.

We are glad to include some scholarly written articles by Ashutosh Kumar, CEO & Co-founder, Testbook.com and Vivek Sood, Founder & Director of Regional Public Relations Pvt. Limited.

We have included interactive interviews of two prominent entrepreneurs as well; Aman Moudgil, Co-founder of Global C and Rajeev Mishra, CEO of UM Motorcycle. Our in-house editors have created some captivating articles as well that you will find very fascinating.

So, do flip the pages and enjoy reading.

Cover Story

DILIP SURANA: An Ingenious Trailblazer of Pharmaceutical Vertical Creating Milestones in the Industry

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We are a DOMINANT player inINDIA, and aspire to become

A GLOBAL Giant In PHARMACEUTICAL BUSINESS

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COURAGE at the core is what

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exactly needed to

CRAFT A success story

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ortune of a company hugely relies on the shoulder of its leader. It’s the leader’s vision that set the path of company and its future endeavors. Anyone can become a leader but to transform the face of the company needs greater zeal, diligence, and self-belief. One such astute leader who has crafted a niche in the market with his sharp business acumen and successful track record as an entrepreneur is Dilip G. Surana, the Chairman and Managing Director of Micro Labs, a prominent pharmaceutical company serving in India and abroad.

Dilip’s Journey towards Glory He comes from a very humble background which reflects in his personality as well. Born in Bangalore, Dilip comes from a small place in Rajasthan, known as Balrai (Pali district). After completing schooling from the esteemed Bishop Cotton Boys High School in Bangalore, Dilip’s entrepreneurial instinct drove him to pursue Bachelor of Commerce (Accounts) from St. Joseph’s College of Commerce. His father, late C.M Surana (Founder of Micro Labs) left a deep impression on his soul to whom he revered the most. It was his father who saw a leader in him and fondly gave him the reins of Micro labs in 1983.

“My father’s ability to pick up the chemistry of a drug was amazing. For him, there was no holiday. He lived and breathed business and inculcated the same values in us.

Even during my high school days, he made sure I learn the trade, starting from the lowest rung”, asserts Dilip.

Since the last three decades, he has been running this organization and its stupendous success has proved his ace as an entrepreneurial mettle to the whole world. Today, Micro Labs is counted among the top pharmaceutical companies in India with an annual turnover of over 2700 crore, including exports that contribute 920 crores. Dilip's rare feat led him to win many prestigious awards and recognition. In the past, he has held the 73rd position on Forbes magazine's list of 100 most affluent Indians with an estimated net worth of over $1.3 billion.

His younger brother, Anand Surana also played a vital role in the success of this company. Anand joined Micro labs in 1993 and currently holds the Director’s position in Micro Labs. It is the vision and passion of these duos that Micro Labs is gaining prominence in the pharmaceutical world.

They always work in tandem, and their ideas have assisted the company hugely. It was their artistic bent of mind which helped Micro Labs in becoming one of the few companies of the mid-1980’s to operate a separate strategic business unit that focused on areas such as cardiology, neurology, dermatology, and nephrology.

About the Company Founded in 1973 under the visionary leadership of a

business tycoon, late C.M Surana, Micro Lab too had a modest beginning with the manufacturing of ethical pharmaceutical preparations.

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It was Surana’s perseverance and adept leadership quality that eventually drove Micro Lab towards the path of glory.

Over the years, this pharmaceutical giant has reinforced its position as an industry leader and become a shining star of the pharmaceutical industry.

The foundation of the company was laid on the principles of delivering superior drug quality, maintaining reasonable business ethics, customer-focused approach, and respect for its people. Inculcation of these beliefs into the company’s core culture has propelled them to become a frontrunner in the pharmaceutical industry and today, it is known as a drug manufacturer of the highest quality that too at an affordable rate all across the globe.

Micro Lab is a multi-faceted organization which has 14 oral formulation plants including an injectable unit; a bulk drug facility, offices located overseas, and a secure distribution network. Their marketing team comprises of skilled professionals who serve across 20 marketing divisions such as Cardiology, Diabetology, Pain Management, Dermatology, Veterinary, Neurology and more. Each of its division has specialized personnel that caters to various therapeutic segments. Their proficient and dedicated human capitals of more than 9000 peoples are company’s real strength which Micro Lab feels to be proud of.

State of the art equipment’s, advanced R&D center, a skillful team of scientists; this is what makes Micro Labs a unique force which provides a conduced environment for innovative drug manufacturing.

The company is dedicated to developing cutting-edge pharmaceutical products while adhering to the highest quality standards established by a world-class research team. Their continuous strive for perfection has led them in pushing their standards of manufacturing by building stateof-the-art facilities. Today, these state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and infrastructure facilitate Micro’s Organic Growth in the regulated markets. This is the reason Micro Labs has been able to have an unbeaten run abroad through its world-class manufacturing units. Many of their facilities have been approved by the international food and drug administration as well which enhances their product acceptability into far deeper market worldwide. Food & Drugs Control Administration (FDA) the USA, World Health Organization (WHO), Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) the UK, Therapeutic Goods Authority (TGA) Australia and more are some of the

METICULOUS Attention,Sharp

BUSINESS

ACUMEN

and proficiency at

CORE SKILLS MAKE THE Whole Di ference

regulatory agencies who are compliances Micro Labs follows religiously.

Micro Labs’ brand portfolio includes some of the leading brands in various specialties in the healthcare sector.

Amidst their proud achievers is Dolo, an award-winning brand highly prescribed for fever management.

Dilip’s Role in Shaping Company’s Fortune Under the astute leadership of Dilip, Micro Labs has grown many folds over the time and has become a diversified pharmaceutical manufacturing company having products ranging from oral solids, oral liquids, to topical, and injectable.

The company is now highly recognized in the market for its innovative techniques for introducing various molecules in India. He is the brain behind crafting a world-class state-ofthe-art research and manufacturing facilities covering Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and finished dosage forms as well as infrastructure for new drug discovery.

Dilip has been instrumental in setting up 14 state-of-the-art facilities for Micro Labs. These manufacturing units are designed to meet the current global standards of GMP and safety standards for personnel.

With Dilip’s efforts, today the company is committed to doing world-class research that develops bio-equivalent generics. The well-planned state-of-the-art facilities at Micro Labs have led to its accelerated growth in the pharmaceutical sector. It was his sharp business acumen that assisted the company is turning its financial fortunes in the balance sheet. Under his leadership, Micro Lab has

‘‘

‘‘

DILIGENCE

at work

& ALTRUISM for people has the POTENTIAL To create magic in

Life

anyone can overcome their circumstances and achieve extraordinary success,” asserts Dilip.

In his successful life, Dilip has won many praises and awards within the industry. Some of the notable ones are CEO of the Year, Asia’s most Admired Leader, Most Dynamic Entrepreneur of the Year and more presented by various prominent bodies.

grown from 30 crores in 1987 to 2700 crore, they have come a long way and continue to progress in leaps & bounds and carries zero debt on its balance sheet. Micro Labs has been aggressively investing to increase capacity and boost exports and is also planning to set up manufacturing units in the UAE and Indonesia.

His immense success and proficiency in pharmaceutical business have earned him a reputation as an industry veteran. He is a regular participant in various international seminars and summits relating to the pharmaceutical industry. “Through determination, grit, and a bit of luck

Cares for the Underprivileged Being a successful entrepreneur did not kill the sympathetic instinct in Dilip’s character. Helping the underprivileged inspires him and makes his conscience alive in this fast turning self-centric world. He is always at the forefront of social contribution, striving to be a model corporate citizen regarding social initiatives with significant contributions in the areas of education and health. He runs a GDA foundation since 1994, which includes educational institutions – an undergraduate college and a management college, besides helping several schools and hospitals.

It is Dilip’s effort that encourages Micro Labs to conducts various health camps, health recovery programs, free medical treatment camps and many other educational programs for patients and doctors. “It is our understanding that through our business we make a worthwhile contribution to the society by introducing new and advanced medicines in the market at affordable prices. Our effort is to establish benevolence and trust in people”, asserts Dilip Surana.

The Road Ahead Dilip believes in working tirelessly to build a massive empire while staying out of the limelight. He is an epitome of success which is driving Micro Labs to become a global giant of pharmaceutical vertical. Dilip has set an ambitious goal of surpassing the sales over to $1 billion by 2020 and poised to achieve single status in the global pharmaceutical industry shortly! Being ambitious persona Dilip quotes, “Success doesn’t come to you unless you have to strive for it.”

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Company Name

Management

Brief

Adacell Technologies adacell.in

Rahul Sahdev CEO & MD

Adacell technology is an innovative and efficient solutions providing company with a mission to become the most preferred company for the customers and employees.

Argyle HR Solutions Pvt. Ltd. argyle.co.in

Anil Nagpal Chairman & MD

Argyle HR Solution helps organization to identify the employee’s abilities and achieve their true potential by skill development.

AxmiYaN HR Solutions Pvt. Ltd. axmiyanhr.com

Abhranshu DasGupta Founder & CEO

AxmiYaN providing most suited professionals, by deeply understanding of requirement of their clients across any possible functional area.

Dreams Soft Technology dreamssofttechnology.com

Rajesh Goutam CEO & MD

Dreams Soft Technology is a growing brand provides a myriad of web development, web promotion and graphic design services.

Ellicium ellicium.com

Kuldeep Deshpande Founder & CEO

Ellicium is focused on providing solutions and developing products to derive insights from unstructured data and streaming data.

FLUXONIX Corporation Pvt. Ltd. fluxonix.com

Anshul Abhang MD & CEO

FLUXONIX Corporation, is one of the most trustworthy brand name across continents with a wide spectrum of clientele from various domains.

Haptik haptik.ai

Aakrit Vaish CEO & Co-founder

Haptik is Mumbai based company that has proficiency in crafting cutting-edge chatbot platform powered by a combination of artificial intelligence and human assistance.

Hi-Tech Company Software Dr. C. Mathiazhagan Solutions (Chennai) Founder & CEO htssindia.in

Hi-Tech Company is a global software development and information technology outsourcing company with offshore development center in Chennai.

Impetech IT Solution impetechglobal.com

Satya Patri CEO

Impetech IT Solution provide products and services for automating business needs.

IQLECT iqlect.com

Sachin Sinha Founder & CEO

IQLECT’s real-time analytics apps empowers predictive analysis and operational intelligence. Ideal for data-driven organizations seeking to improve their operations & customer engagement.

Company Name

Management

Brief

MAA Communications Ltd maa.co.in

Akshar Peerbhoy (Chief Operating Officer), Ayaz Peerbhoy (Founder), Bunty Peerbhoy (Chairman)

MAA Communications is an advertising company that turns insightful ideas into innovative marketing strategies.

Mantrin mantrin.com

Lalit K Sharma CEO

Mantrin is one of the leading advertising and brand consulting service providers in North India

Micro Labs Pvt. Ltd. microlabsltd.com

Dilip Surana Chairman & MD

Micro Labs Limited is a multi-faceted pharmaceutical company with a skilled marketing team, state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and R&D centers that are at par with international standards.

Mind Merchants mindmerchants.co.in

Rajesh Goutam CEO & MD

Mind Merchants is an ITeS company incorporated in India and catering to legal departments of leading corporates globally and especially in India.

OutsiteVR outsitevr.com

Amit Singh CEO & Co-founder

OutsiteVR aims to bring a fully immersive, real, and simulated environment to the Classrooms with the help of AR/ VR Technology.

Pi DATACENTERS pidatacenters.com

Madhu Dwivedi Marketing Executive

Pi DATACENTERS, Asia’s largest Uptime Certified TIER IV, state-of-the-art, greenfield data center organisation, is based in the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati.

Power2SME power2sme.com

R Narayan Founder & CEO

Power2SME is the first buying club for Indian SMEs that aims to empower and propel them on the fast lane to growth.

QuEST Global quest-global.com

Ajit Prabhu Chairman & CEO

QuEST Global is a trusted engineering services and solutions partner to many of the world’s most recognized Fortune 500 brands in aerospace and defense, medical device, power, and transportation.

Racetrack.ai racetrack.ai

Subrat Parida CEO & Founder

Racetrack.ai is a leading AI innovation hub that develops set of solutions that empower organizations to form business processes and to help the customers to take accurate business decisions.

Sciformix sciformix.com

Manish Soman President & CEO

It is a leading Scientific Process Organization (SPO), providing scientific knowledge-based services to biopharmaceutical, generic pharmaceutical, consumer product, medical device, contract research and healthcare companies.

Company Name

Management

Brief

SKP Group skpgroup.com

Sandeep Jain Partner & Executive Director

SKP specialize in providing sound business and tax guidance, and accounting services to international companies that are currently conducting or initiating business in India, as well as those expanding overseas.

Smartshore Services LLC smartshore.us

Amit Saraff MD

Smartshore, is a service-based company that strives to offer its clients the right globalization strategy based on their business processes.

Softlink Global softlinkglobal.com

Amit Maheshwari CEO

Softlink Global is a leading software provider for Freight Forwarding, Logistics and Supply Chain industry.

Sparx IT Solutions sparxitsolutions.com

Prashant Singh Sengar CEO

Sparx IT Solutions is a leading firm based in India whose mission is to provide best services and improve overall growth of client’s business in the cut-throat market.

Suyati suyati.com

Karthikeyan S Chief Technology Officer

Suyati provides marketing technology and integration services for companies that wish to combine the best of breed solutions such as CMS and CRM, with e-commerce, marketing automation, social media listening and more.

TECHVED Consulting India Pvt. Ltd. techved.com

Mohar V Business Evangelist & Digital Strategist

TECHVED Consulting is a global usability and design hub working towards becoming the most trusted brand to provide UX solutions to digital products.

Tempest Advertising Pvt. Ltd. tempestadvertising.com

Turab Lakdawala MD

Tempest Advertising is one of the best digital marketing agencies which is known for its cutting-edge services.

Vital Wires Consulting vitalwires.com

Vinay Singh CEO

Vital Wires is an enterprise consulting company focusing on enterprise-wide digital initiatives. With SAP/ERP at its core strength it brings deep functional consulting experience to its clients.

Vyakta vyakta.com

Ashish Kumar Jha Founder

Vyakta is a consulting firm helping large and mid-sized companies to grow their business by developing talent and aligning it with the organizational strategy.

Wise Business Technologies wisebiztech.com

Anish Gupta Proprietor

Wise Business Technologies has expertise in software development, digital marketing, website designing, mobile app development and more.

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lobal C is an ace project and development management company that has expertise in providing concept to commissioning services for Buildings & Urban infrastructure to their clients. We have talked with Aman Moudgil, Co-founder of Global C to find some valuable insights regarding: Global C’s contribution towards industry, his company’s successful journey since inception and more.

1. Kindly elaborate your roles and responsibilities as a leader of Global C. In our industry where bespoke carries more credibility than any other mode of marketing both I, i.e. Aman Moudgil and my founding partner Gaurav spearhead business development and take a support role in operational aspects that an engineering team battles on its projects.

We are continuously in search of new Smart Building technologies that can be implemented at construction phase and operation phase of a project to optimize cost and increase net revenue for building owners, promoters. Unlike age old practice(s) of working on thumb rules and trends we rely a lot on cost benefit analytics and empirical data mining.

had our zeal to graduate into an Engineering design cum Project Management consultancy.

Our clients benefited from this single window engineering design cum project management philosophy. With years of experience in handling and completing complicated urban projects including the likes of Multi super specialty Hospitals, Hotels, Integrated townships, Multi storeyed condominiums, Commercial malls, Office building, Data centers, Cinema halls, Interior fit out projects, etc. We have now evolved to a full-service project development format and are serving as a one stop consultancy supporting our clients’ project expectations with in house capabilities. Key Services offered by us include: • Pre-Construction Strategic Consulting • Assisting client in Documentation and understanding Statutory Approvals and timelines, Representation of Clients with FIIs, Banks, Private Equity Investors, • Design & Construction Management • QS & Value Engineering • Contract &Tender Management • Procurement Management • Post Construction Services during DLP Period post completion of project

2. What are the services/products offered by Global C? Global C started as a project and development management company around 12 years ago. As Gaurav and I are Engineers and comes from a family of Engineers, we always

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3. How do you incorporate with the day-to-day challenges and company goals?

Success and challenges go hand in hand. In fact every

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Interview With Insights Success

project is a learning curve for the company and we have seen every project to be teaching us at least one typical problem. Years of expertise and completing over 50 million sqft. area has boosted our troubleshooting capabilities also. On an operational front, we prepare a Project Road Map and a Co-ordination matrix before start of every project. Financial mapping & returns on our time investments are diligently planned before taking up a project. We believe & practice that continuous education and improvising skill set of our team and is an equally important milestone towards sustainability. Global C has a policy wherein we ensure every employee who works even for a day should be a step higher on his technical skill curve.

4. What is the inspirational element driving you ahead?

Our parents. Our father Shree D. Moudgil who served Engineers India Ltd for over 4 decades and retired as Director (Projects ) has been our guiding stars who imbibed strong foundations for ethics & education . Equally working under mentorship of likes of Mr. Juan Segovia from Spain has expanded our expertise in Europe and opened vast avenues for us.

5. How will you differentiate Global C from the leading competitors in the market?

We are an Engineering design cum project and development management consulting firm experienced in handholding our clients from concept to commissioning in all forms of urban infrastructure project kinds as afore outlined. We undertake assignments from brownfield to green field projects and try to work around financial budgets & cash flows of clients. We are proud of the fact that we work beyond pure technical & contract management sphere and adopt holistic approach. ™

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Team work, ethics and team building are crucial in building a company. The same coupled with a strong leadership makes the setup highly effective in achieving desired deliverance. I feel that line managers must have traits of a leader. They must possess leadership qualities.

With leadership qualities line managers can develop and begin strategies that build and sustain competitive advantage.

8. List the things that make a leader a successful leader.

We strongly believe that leadership is all about that “Blood, Sweat and Respect”. The first two you give and last one you earn.

9. What are your future plans for the Global C?

Aman Moudgil Co-founder 6. What are the parameters a company needs to follow to be a successful one?

Our philosophy rests on delivering quality & building partnerships and that is how we have been able to get repeat business from our customers. Our past track record is perfect evidence where you can see multiple projects under the same client which instills confidence on our setup and deliverance. Global C supports its potential & existing customers by macro and micro-management of every detail concerned to a project such as coordinating cash flow, managing the timeline, monitoring the team onsite, quality control & assurance etc. In addition to these, engineering services like Electrical systems, Plumbing, Firefighting, and expertise in domains like Oil & Gas, Water management, Medical equipment’s & services, Industrial designing & Mobility solutions helped Global C to command a project effectively and efficiently.

The Gurgaon-based company being an established entity in sectors like social housing, healthcare, diplomatic missions, industrial infrastructure, waste management, commercial offices , clean-energy, and cinemas & auditoriums. It now seeks to venture out into further different sectors in partnership with architectural & consulting companies from Spain and Maldives, targeting luxury projects like Resorts & Hotels with their sights in partnering with Developers, Private Equity Investors, Promoters eyeing on NPA’s in which turn-around can happen with revision in strategy and efficient project management. We have teamed up and have great partners who can support on building construction and

7. What are the roles and responsibilities of a leader from your point of view that are just inevitable?

We believe in the famous Spanish saying, “Sigue tus sueños, ellos se saben el camino” which means, follow your dreams they know the way.

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Director Projects on the board of Engineers India Limited, a Govt. of India undertaking and a navratna company. He has spearheaded prestigious large scale projects in Oil & Gas sector including Redevelopment of Connaught Place at New Delhi, Mittal Energy-ONGC Bhatinda Refinery, EIL’s representation as the Lenders’ Engineers for GMRNew Delhi & GVK-Mumbai Airport to name a few. He’s a Chartered Member of the Institution of Engineers, PMI and Gold Medalist from Punjab Engineering College at Chandigarh.

Gaurav Moudgil Founder

technologies. Further our strategies of shifting projects to project and development management structure wherein specialized agencies execute role specific work can optimize overall costs and insulate clients to complete projects within time and budget while keeping them fully insulated from a single EPC Contractor.

10. Kindly share some advice for the young ones entering into the field.

Construction and Project Management are a rewarding and lucrative career option for ambitious individuals looking to get ahead in the industry. However, it is also a highly demanding one & requires extensive Research & Skill Development. Before entering the field of Project management, we felt that expertise in one sub-set of Construction & Engineering like Architecture, Civil, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering is a must.

Gaurav Moudgil, Founder of Global C, is an alumnus of prestigious University of California at Berkeley and a Gold Medalist in Civil Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. His experience in Project & Development Management is a combination of the expertise developed under mentorship of Industry Stalwarts, PEERS, hands-on project management of complicated Engineering projects and delivery of building infra projects managed Pan-India & Internationally by the company. Global C is a TRACES Certified Consulting company and a member of Indian Green Building Council & Indian Association of Structural Engineers.

Aman Moudgil, Co-founder of Global C is an Alumni of prestigious Panjab University and holds a BE (Hons) in CSE and specializes in Business Development, Engineering Project Management & MEP design. His project experience includes Hospitals, Townships, Hotels, Commercial complexes, Office Buildings, Institutional buildings, Data Centers, Structures for Diplomatic Missions, Cinemas, Clean room facilities, Auditoriums and associated ancillary developments. He’s responsible for introduction of Building management systems, Automation & Web-Collaboration systems for Projects under Global C. He is a key member for development & presentation of project documentation, as is evident by his authorship in several international papers in journals and conference proceedings.

Leaders of Global C Deepak Moudgil is the Mentor and Chief Advisor of Global C and other group of companies founded by Gaurav Moudgil and Aman Moudgil. He retired as

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Aakrit Vaish: A Trendsetting Entrepreneur Building Ground-breaking Chatbots of 21st Century

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n Idea can help you to craft a great product, but people can help you to build a great company”, with this belief at the core, Aakrit Vaish, CEO & Co-founder of Haptik is marching ahead with full vigor and passion. An Industrial Engineering graduate from the University of Illinois, Aakrit oversees all key business aspects such as revenue & finance, talent acquisition, and defining the strategy and vision for the company. He invests almost half of his time in recruiting the right talents, as he believes skilled manpower are the real assets for the company more than anything else.

This budding entrepreneur always encourages a healthy environment in the office premises which consistently/constantly motivate the workforce to nurture innovation among them in order to excel in their job. “

Aakrit always had a singular inspiration in his mind- to craft something that people would fall in love with and also value immensely. He always wanted to create a product that becomes indispensable for consumers and businesses alike. For him, creating something unique that a 100 people love and cannot live without is much more valuable, than creating something mediocre that a 1000 people say it is like a “sort of” product. This inspiration

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and ideology led to the birth of Haptik, and within a very shorter span of time Haptik has become one of the world’s largest conversational AI platforms that build applications for consumers, publishers and enterprises.

The company has been at the forefront of the paradigm shift from apps to bots, having worked across various chatbot use cases such as e-commerce, customer service, utility and lead generation. It has many prominent clients that include industry veterans like Coca-Cola, HDFC Life, Samsung, Sharekhan, Edelweiss Tokio, Goibibo, Tata Docomo and Amazon Pay among others.

In less than five years, Haptik has carved a solid and highly differentiated niche for itself within the market by creating great technology that translates into endcustomer applications. They are more focused on catering to use cases that customers genuinely value instead of building “cool AI” for the sake of it. Their Haptik app is considered as India’s favorite personal assistant app that is available 24x7 to get customer’s work done over chat. This app has been downloaded by more than 50,00,000 people and is recognized among the highest rated app in India.

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Hiring Right Candidate is the Key to Success Any company needs infrastructure, finance, and astute leadership, but it cannot grow until it has the adept manpower on board. Destiny of any company rely more on its personnel than any other parameters. Haptik, thus follow a stringent hiring process, to filter the right candidates as they believe with having right people on the premises, no challenges can be insurmountable, and no goals can be too ambitious to achieve. For them, it is imperative to build a team that is ready to pull out all the stops to achieve a goal that has been laid out for the overall success of the company. “Many companies fail to reach their true potential because they don’t give enough importance to this function. Talent acquisition and retention are of paramount importance. Perseverance, faith in our self, and learning from own mistakes such that it cannot get repeated are also imperative to taste success for long,” asserts Aakrit.

Aakrit’s take on a Successful Leader A good leader is one who sees an opportunity even in the challenging circumstances. Aakrit believes, there are many traits which a leader should have in order to succeed in this hypercompetitive globalized world and make their distinguished presence felt in the industry.

According to Aakrit: • A successful leader is one who believes in his team and is therefore not obsessed with micromanagement. Giving people a sense of ownership and responsibility is important.

Future Goals and Message for Entrepreneurs Haptik is very optimistic about their future. They will continue to work on their innovative streak to enhance their existing products for the greater client benefit. They are working towards building regional language support for their chatbots and are also in the process of launching a voice interface for it.

To enjoy a successful stint in entrepreneurship, Aakrit quoted “Start a company only if you are obsessed with the problem statement, not because you want to be an entrepreneur and not do a regular job. A business is a long-term commitment which you won’t be able to see through without passion and obsession.”

• Being goal oriented and defining targets for one’s team is important. In the absence of a defined set of objectives to be achieved, people can easily feel disoriented and demotivated.

• Leading by example is one of the most pivotal traits of a good leader. One cannot inspire the team to be motivated, passionate, hard-working, creative and agile if the leader itself does not follow those things.

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Rajeev Mishra CEO

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Interview With Insights Success

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M Motorcycle is known for producing terrific motorcycles with exhilarating design that too at an affordable price. The company believes in providing something unique which people fall in love with and reflects the energy of excitement and builds camaraderie with its customers that set them apart from the status quo. To get more details about its services and uniqueness which this company brought to the automobile world, we have talked with Mr. Rajeev Mishra, CEO of UM Motorcycle.

1. Kindly elaborate your roles and responsibilities as a leader of UM Motorcycles As the CEO of the company it is my primary objective to ensure the company’s goals are achieved and targets met.

This involves strategic and tactical planning, with the mission of the brand constantly in foresight. As a leader, I have to ensure that my organization has the right manpower, and that the manpower is motivated to not just achieve their personal goals, line them up with the growth of the company as well. I have to juggle multiple hats to ensure smooth functioning of all the departments, and at the same time be at the top of my game given the competitive segment of automobiles that we cater to. All of this has to be balance with the idea of gaining maximum ROI with as minimum an investment as possible.

2. What are the different services/products UM Motorcycles offers to its customers?

UM Motorcycles is an American company catering to cruiser motorcycles for the Indian market. We first showcased our motorcycles at the 2014 Auto Expo, and launched our ‘Renegade’ portfolio at the 2016 Auto Expo.

With currently have three motorcycles in the product portfolio, with the Renegade Commando Classic as our flagship model. ™

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Although we are an American brand, we take pride in saying that we are an ‘American soul with an Indian heart’ as our products have 70% localization. The motorcycles are assembled at our plant in Kashipur, Uttarakhand which we have with a 50:50 JV with Lohia Auto Industries. Since we entered the market, our motorcycles have received an overwhelming response – the Renegades aren’t just high on features, but also pack a noteworthy performance.

Besides motorcycles, UM also offers its customers a huge range of motorcycle and ride accessories along with merchandise. Our M & A range isn’t just aimed towards a UM customer, but also towards motorcyclists in general, as we believe in catering to the motorcycling segment as a whole.

3. How do you incorporate with the day-to-day challenges and company goals?

I firmly believe that if an organization is employee friendly, then achieving the tasks and goals becomes way easier. I have the right set of people who take pride in what they do; pro-activeness and an open door policy is also something that helps us achieve our goals together. I want all my employees to be the CEOs of their respective verticals, and I sincerely encourage this. Mistakes occur, but they come with their set of learning – this particular approach of mine has helped us tide through difficult waters and has kept our retention rate high as well.

4. What is the inspirational element driving you ahead?

My inspirations are all the bosses and CEOs I’ve had the pleasure of working with. There was a lot of learning under them and I tried my best to bring all that learning to the table with my employees. I feel in order for people to

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follow, one should lead by example and that’s how I work.

My team is no less in pushing my boundaries and patience on occasion, but the ability to look at the positive, and always give the benefit of doubt, are factors that constantly drive me ahead.

5. How will you differentiate UM Motorcycles from the leading competitors in the market?

After an extensive market study, UM has learnt that the middle-class biking enthusiasts on the lookout for reasonably priced cruisers don’t have a choice apart from a Royal Enfield. American cruisers such as Harley-Davidson and Indian Motorcycles are expensive, and so are the Triumph motorcycles manufactured by the British. Also, since the cruiser market is huge, UM believes, the company has the potential to offer what the middle class customer is seeking. We want to offer our customers quality, performance and experience, instead of competing with anyone else. Also, compared to other cruiser manufacturers in India, we are looking to offer customers a very different riding experience, with many innovative and first-in-India features.

6. What are the parameters a company needs to follow to be a successful one?

A company should have the right balance of strategy, operations and people. These are imperative to any team or organization for being successful. The people at the helm of the organization should be receptive, and there should be no fear of approachability or failure. A mentoring attitude also encourages employees to put forth their ideas and come up with innovative techniques to achieve their target, which eventually benefits the organization.

A clear strategy is always needs as it allows the organization to measure its ROI and success.

7. List the things that make a leader successful.

Self-awareness and self-analysis: It is the key quality for any leader to be successful. When one measures their own actions and analyses their reactions, it gives them the insight on the methods and approaches used - whether right or wrong; highly needed especially when heading bigger teams.

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Team player & empathy: Whether it’s a big organization or small, one needs to be a team player and not work in silos.

Empathy is another crucial factor – this isn’t just towards people who you interact directly, but also with whom which you have connected indirectly. No matter what designation you sit in an organization, your people management skills should always be on your list of priorities. As we say in motorcycling ‘If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together’ 8. What are your future plans for the UM Motorcycles?

Moving ahead into the future, we aim to bring more products in the sub-premium motorcycle segment – this would mean getting products which aren’t just high on performance, but also ones which cater to the average Indian’s pocket. Besides this, we are in plans of establishing an engine plant in Telangana, wherein our investment will be around 25 million dollars. Our current facility at Kashipur caters to 50,000 units, this engine plant will enable us to add in another 50,000 units. Not just that, through the new plant UM will also create employment opportunities in that region. Besides this we are very keen on increasing our dealer and service point network, with a special focus on Tier I and Tier II cities, where demand is much higher than the metros and where a Renegade is seen as aspirational.

9. Kindly share some advice for the young ones entering into the field.

Be willing to learn and absorb knowledge from those around and above you. Some managers are tough task masters, and they’re the ones from whom you can learn the most. Be willing to experiment and don’t restrict yourself with things of your choice only. It’s good to keep your options and horizon wide. The initial phase of your career should focused primarily on learning rather than monetary gains – once you have the skill set and knowledge base and become an asset to an organization, the money will start flowing in. Always have a skill set that makes your indispensable to your organization!

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t is not only about the wealth. And, it’s not just only about the control over the people and the resources. A strong/healthy combination of money and influence that enable people to help shape the world is the true power.

But only selected group of people will possess the economic and political influence to effect global change.

One such powerful leader Abhranshu DasGupta, Founder & CEO of AxmiYaN HR Solutions Pvt Ltd, has wealth of professional experience in Talent Acquisition and HR roles in multiple organizations in India. Before starting his venture AxmiYaN HR and Axmistsrtbizz.com, he was associated with a London-UK based established Global Executive/Retained Search firm with more than 150+ offices in 45 countries as Head Recruitment - India.

AxmiYaN creating Incredible Bench-mark Back in year 2012, AxmiYaN a professionally managed 9001:2015 Certified HR services firm came into existence in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. AxmiYaN was founded by a team of HR professionals with the aim of providing most suited professionals by deeply understanding of requirement of their clients across any possible functional area. Organization is working on a PAN India basis and works with leading companies.

CEO Abhranshu DasGupta is creating and implementing the company’s vision and mission; thus, he is the person behind the complete growth of his firm. By maintaining awareness of the competitive landscape, expansion

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opportunities, markets, & industry developments, he is evaluating the success of the organization and providing executive leadership across the organization. Abhranshu is leading the development of the company’s short-term and long-term strategy by setting targets to achieve them. He has also served as Sr. Consultant Recruitment for Leadership Hiring’s for clients.

Leading the firm with its Unrivaled Solutions and Services The Services Offered by AxmiYaN HR Solution on a PAN India basis are such as Executive Search & Hiring’s, Contingency Search, Project Recruitment, Employee Counseling, Training, HR Solutions, Professional Resume Writing Solutions for Fresher’s and across verticals and experiences, and Recruitment for Startup Organizations started by IIT and IIM graduates.

Well, AxmiYaN stood unique from their competitors by believing on 4 rules such as Service Differentiation, Relationship Differentiation, and Price Differentiation & Image Differentiation.

Challenges Conquered As a Search firm, AxmiYaN HR knows boundaries and based on that company is constantly keeping an eye on each employee. Managers of company consistently provide feedbacks which can help the employees to focus on their performance. However, the proper allocation of task is one of the challenges, so it is important for employees to know their role in their projects. Abhranshu also believes in

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recognition of every employee is an utmost important task; thus, company is having a set of reward activities based on that they recognize every employee and building a lasting relationship with the employees and client.

Paving the way Towards Success In spite facing lots of challenges, there are some elements drives the company ahead. By offering Recruitment Solutions to the clients in – Sectors like IT and ITES, Telecommunication, PEB Industry, Automobile, Pharma & Life Science, Healthcare, Media and Entertainment, Manufacturing, Banking, Education, Cement, Agriculture, Travel & Tourism, Power, Retail, FMCG, Infrastructure and Real estate, they enjoy a high level of trust with their clients, who repeatedly use their services.

Also, Abhranshu stated that–“Approachable, knowledgeable and with high level of professionalism, we take the time to get to know everyone work with in order to build long-lasting, meaningful relationships”. He further said that “Company must have to deliver on their promises as they strive to offer a quick and efficient service with quality our overriding principle, by using all latest Recruitment and Sourcing tools”. One more important thing he proudly shared that they treat the clients, same as they treat themselves, & thus companies’ consultative, professional approach continues to produce exceptional results.

Achievements that make AxmiYaN Prominent While talking about the achievements, the organization AxmiYaN is recognized by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion by Government of India as a Leading Startup. Silicon India Best 50 Startups to work for in 2017.

It was a winner of India’s 5000 Best MSME Awards 2018.

And, is a member of Highly Reputed ICC – Indian Chamber of Commerce- Kolkata.

The Essentials for Entrepreneurial Excellence However, these achievements are succeeded on parameters like Authentic Purpose, Customer Retention and Satisfaction, Market Orientation, Repeatable Sales & Business, Flexible, Adaptive Leadership.

Additionally, Abhranshu shared Confidence, Positive Attitude, Focus on Goal, Collaboration& Integrity, Passion, Patience, Authenticity, Setting the right example, continuous development of leadership skills, Seek and takes responsibility of actions, Make sound and timely decisions,

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Keep team informed are the components that makes a leader successful.

Advice to the Budding Entrepreneurs “Nothing comes easy in Life… Young people are said to be more hopeful and optimistic than their older counterparts.

With little experience in the “real world,” they are often full of dreams and aspirations for their life. I want young people to understand themselves better, build personal agency, learn how to build their voice, Smart Work, reflect and respond to feedback, and to have goal find your purpose and achieve it. Always discuss your Goal and Purpose with a Successful Mentor”—advised Abhranshu.

Drawing a Bright future Currently AxmiYaN HR is based in Jabalpur and doing recruitment on a PAN India basis. And, as per clients need company is planning to open their offices in other cities of India in the coming months.

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Vital-Trait

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eadership is an ability to guide or inspire. It may involve guiding a person, a group of employees or at times the entire organisation. To do so, a leader must imbibe necessary qualities in order to lead efficiently and help the team members complete their tasks on time and in the best way possible. Honesty, integrity, commitment, effective communication, decision making ability, accountability, creativity and delegation are often listed as the pivotal leadership qualities. At times, leaders feel the need of doing all the work themselves in order to complete all of it in the right way. This is certainly not an optimum choice of doing things. Leaders need to delegate tasks depending upon the amount of work to be done and capability of the employees of the organisation.

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Assignment of responsibilities by a manager to an employee is called delegation. It is one of the core qualities that a leader must possess. In the long run, delegation of work benefits not just business leaders and entrepreneurs, but their employees as well. By entrusting certain tasks to employees, leaders tend to build confidence in them. This helps in enhancing employee performance which eventually aids towards achieving the organisations’ goals.

Delegation of work is done simply because one individual cannot do everything. Trying to complete all tasks by oneself may lead to inferior quality of work, difficulty in managing time effectively, missing deadlines etc.

On reaching the saturation point, human beings fail to achieve the

desired and necessary goals. This often leads to burnout. In order to avoid such problems, corporate giants have various departments created so as to delegate and distribute the huge amount of work and also to ensure that the right person does the right work.

Hence, scientifically and professionally it is very important to delegate activities among employees.

Delegation is a sign of leadership and not weakness. Delegating tasks to relevant people is a skill in itself. That is why, effective delegation will always help leaders accomplish their goals. It will help them save time to focus on other important aspects like strategic planning of future projects and developmental opportunities. By delegating tasks and deciding upon realistic deadlines for them will boost June 2018|

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Delegation

A Vital Facet That Every Leader Should

Possess to Reach Greater Heights

self-esteem of the employees and will also make them believe that their leader is having trust on them. This will give a chance to leaders for improving professional relations with employees; also giving them satisfaction by seeing their employees doing better at work. On the other hand, as soon as employees receive their part of tasks to be done, they will carry them forward even in the absence of their leaders. This will help leaders in having a work-life balance.

Delegation is advantageous for not just managers but also has a positive impact on employees. When leaders delegate tasks to employees, they find ways to complete it. In this process they grow and improve their working speed, efficiency and results. This motivates them to work more and more, in the best way possible. They get a good chance to brush up their skills and also to contribute to the success of their team. Delegation, along with providing benefits to ™

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leaders and employees, also works for the welfare of the organisation. It provides the organisation with skilled employees, ready to face tough situations and take up complicated tasks with improved confidence and willpower. This notable improvement in employees in turn magnifies productivity within organisations, and increases feasibility to reach greater heights.

There are various ways through which leaders can delegate tasks to team members. It is crucial for leaders to learn how and whom to delegate tasks.

Not delegating enough tasks or delegating them to less competent people may invite trouble within an organisation. To avoid such hassles, leaders need to learn effective management skills. Knowing how to delegate is as important as knowing what to delegate and whom to delegate. Leaders need to delegate tasks depending upon the abilities of the person. The requirements of the

leader and capabilities of an employee should match; only then the process of delegation will be successful.

According to independent researchers, experienced leaders always delegate smaller tasks to newer staff to build their confidence and competence.

While delegating work to newer employees, leaders must be very clear on explaining to them what is to be done, how they think it should be done and making them clear on the deadlines.

In the whole process of delegation, the old school saying, “If you want the job done right, you have to do it yourself” is not applicable. This is because a leader cannot focus on every minute detail of an entire organisation.

According to Brian Tracy, a CanadianAmerican motivational public speaker and self-development author, “If you want the job done right, you have to learn how to delegate it properly so that it can be done to the proper standard.”

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Akshar Peerbhoy: A Visionary and Creative Mind of Advertising Vertical

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he advertising industry in India has evolved immensely in recent years from being a smallscale industry to a full-fledged industry. Indian advertising industry is expected to be the second fastest growing advertising market in Asia succeeding China. It has been predicted that by 2018, the share of ad expenditure in India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be around 0.45 percent.

Akshar Peerbhoy is the present Chief Operating Officer of Bangalore based MAA Communications, which is a growing company of the advertising industry in India. Founded by Adman Ayaz Peerbhoy, the legendary business tycoon of India, this prestigious company has nearly 60-year old legacy which has established itself as a leader in innovation in the advertising industry. The dynamic leadership of the company work on defining, aligning and realigning the vision of the company in sync with the dynamics of the industry. Akshar has given a new height to the illustrious journey of the company with his innovative style of management and tactics.

Inspirational Elements in Akshar’s Success Akshar Peerbhoy is the third generation heir to the last

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remaining privately held advertising agency in India, with close to six decades of existence, excellence and richlegacy. He was inspired by the fact that his grandfather was considered to be one of the founding fathers of Indian advertising industry, the fact that his father is considered to be one of the most powerful forces in the industry today.

“I’m privileged to have access to such a wealth of it…all I have to do is keep tweaking and leveraging it to scale new heights. Also, the amount of goodwill that our agency commands in the market is nothing short of inspiring – and addictive. It keeps me craving for more.”

Akshar reflects.

Surpassing the Challenges with Winning Attitude Challenges are nothing but indicators of the need for change. It is part of the MAA culture to view challenges not as problems but as questions that inevitably lead them towards solutions. So it’s about not just defining what the problem is, but about identifying what’s causing it – and simply fixing that. Even if there are seemingly unsolvable challenges, there’s usually a way out. For instance, there’s not much one can do to make a customer pay more money if they’re working on

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tight budgets – but the way out? In such situations, the team look for more cost-effective solutions like blending.

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Visionary leader with Excellent Management Skills A connoisseur of Steve Job’s philosophy, Akshar believes that the trademark trait of a successful leader is innovation, the ability to be a visionary and see the goal when others are struggling with the here and now. A leader should be able to look beyond the now, to leverage the now to get where he/she wants to be in the future. Such a vision helps the whole team to focus on achieving that goal, and making it a reality.

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Services Offered by the Company Advertising is the foundation of the company and it’s all about reaching the right customers at the right time using the right channel. The best part of being an inclusive marketing communication service provider is that we can make the customer experience entirely seamless, thus upping engagement and conversion rates.

MAA Communications provide end-to-end solutions ranging from social media marketing to web marketing, SEO and SEM. The company also delivers all forms of video, ranging from motion graphics to full-fledged TV commercials.

Last but not the least, the company helps in promotion and marketing through events, tradeshows, road shows, lead generation, lead development, lead management, database management, e-mail marketing, SMS marketing, direct mailers– pretty much every form, channel and platform of marketing that facilitates a direct customer response.

Distinctive Factors of the Company The company provide end-to-end communication solutions. Today, MAA communication is a total communication solutions provider powered by

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excellence in creativity, strategy and market intelligence.

The insightful and innovative marketing strategies help build and establish compelling brand identities that have a deep connection with consumers, thus ensuring sustained organic growth and continued customer trust.

Since its inception, the company has been transforming and realigning with the changing mediascape, which resulted in makingit one of the leading innovative communication companies in India.

Future Prospect With MAA #Oneplay, the company has successfully steered the agency into the future of marketing, or what they call the #NewWave of marketing. MAA #Oneplay exemplifies the core values of the MAA brand while simultaneously leveraging cutting-edge, modern marketing strategies that revolutionize branding and advertising. #Oneplay is about providing best-in-class quality, seamless solutions to the customers, solutions that are powered by the team’s unrelenting commitment to exceed stakeholder expectations in every step of the way.

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Amit Saraff : A Zealous Leader on a Quest for Success

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uccessful business leaders are characterized by commitment and dedication. They have an indomitable will and an unrelenting desire to overcome all the obstacles to accomplish their objectives.

They are resilient to defeat and have a strong belief and clarity of the mission and vision of the company. A successful leader can lead a business towards success, growth, and prosperity.

easier to meet daily targets then trying to meet a gigantic yearly goal. They prepare daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual metrics to keep themselves posted on their progress against the goals. He further states that the daily challenges are viewed as building blocks for the goals and are handled with a smile in the organization, without them there will be no fun in achieving the goals.

An Industrious Leader Driven by Inspiration

One such resolute leader is Amit Saraff, the Managing Director of Smartshore Infoservices Pvt. Ltd. He is directly responsible for the new business expansion and client servicing for all Smartshore clients in countries like USA, Singapore, Dubai, and India. In addition, he is indirectly responsible for all the support functions like finance, HR, procurement, and so on. His role as a leader of the organization includes setting the strategic vision for the organization, reinforcing the company values, and expansion to new geographies and service lines.

Amit and his team of industrious professionals get inspired by their achievements. Under his leadership, the company strives to be the best in class boutique services firm for the software development in banking and financial services space. They started in 2008 and have finished 10 years of their journey in the space of information technology. They look forward to their presence expanding to other countries and various technologies in years to come.

Spearheading the Service Industry

Incorporating Challenges with Company Objectives Amit states that every person in Smartshore has well defined goals at the beginning of the year which keeps all of them focused. The goals are divided into daily targets which they really strive to meet. He feels that it is much

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Smartshore specializes in financial services industry and counts some of the largest Wall Street institutions as their main customers. They offer services in software development and maintenance, knowledge process outsourcing, and IT infrastructure management.

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The company’s core area of expertise is in the banking and financial services industry. With highly experienced management, flexible approach, and deployment of latest technologies, they have emerged as a strong competitor in the IT services space for the financial institutions. Their clients are very appreciative of their pragmatic approach to quality and timely delivery which gets them the maximum value of every dollar they spend with the company.

Providing Unmatched Support Focused on Financial, IT, and Outsourcing Services Being a 500 people strong company with ample room to grow, Smartshore provides an extremely competitive offering and right element of customer service. Unlike the large companies that fritters away massive amount of critical time with futile formalities, Smartshore responds quickly with a simpler approval process, devoid of superfluous management levels. As a cherry on top, the company’s cost is 25-30 percent cheaper than other players in the space.

The company has a widespread global footprint in U.S, India, and Singapore. This allows the clients to work with Smartshore seamlessly across all geographies, almost as capable as world’s largest outsourcing enterprises. Likewise, in IT infrastructure services space, the company stands apart with similar global delivery model with a strong 24/7 infrastructure support. The company also adds tremendous value as a BPO provider to various India based companies. Smartshore combines offshore expertise with an efficient and scalable service delivery model that follows stringent security policies and quality processes.

Essential Ingredients for a Successful Company Amit states that in order to emerge as a successful establishment, a company has to establish and maintain a strong employee friendly company culture. The company should practice, promote, and support excellent customer

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Smartshore as a team are getting increasingly more focused on the latest technology platforms like robotic process automation (blue prism, automation anywhere, UI path etc) and block chain (smart contracts, ethereum etc).

service. Moreover, Amit says that a company should maintain honesty and transparency in operations in order to maintain success and growth in the long run.

Marching Ahead Steadily Under the insightful leadership of Amit Saraff, the company aims to expand into newer geographies and build strong delivery practices in latest technologies like robotic process automation and block chain. However, they want to scale themselves with agility so that their customer base keeps increasing and they continue to fill a void of niche experts in the banking industry.

Advice for Emerging Business Leaders Amit advices up-and-coming business leaders to differentiate themselves in this highly competitive space, as the older technologies keep getting obsolete. The investment in newer technologies should be actively done to ensure rapid growth of the organization. He also recommends them to find a mentor if possible who can guide them through the journey of starting a company to growing it into a large organization.

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TALENT-RETENTION

Steps to Retain

GOOD EMPLOYEES in Order to

Reach OPTIMUM LEVELS OF

SUCCESS

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A “

great employee is like a four leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have.” -Tammy Cohen, Author

Leadership, pro-activeness, positive attitude and flexibility are few of the many exceptional qualities of a good employee. They are self-motivated individuals who do not hesitate from taking up any kind of responsibilities or even facing crisis, whatsoever. But at the end of the day, employees are humans too. Like any other employee, good employees also get disengaged at times. In order to feel contented and satisfied at the workplace, they feel the need of certain recreational tasks or activities which can help them enhance their competency. If they do not find the necessary contentment and reasons to continue working, they often quit their job and hop on to another company which they may find better than the former. According to a research, businesses having unhappy employees often deliver poor quality services to customers.

In order to retain such great employees and keep the company moving on the right path, all organisations ought to consider certain crucial steps. These steps can enhance the overall performance of the organisation by giving the necessary satisfaction, respect and recognition to important employees and also in turn inspire other employees and staff members to work efficiently.

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Effective Communication Effective and consistent communication is the key for employee engagement. It gives the employees an idea of how important their work is for the company.

Communication between managers and superiors is as important as communication between teammates and colleagues. No amount of perks will persuade an employee to stay if there is lack of communication among them and managers. A regular talk with managers regarding not just work and assignments but also other concerned issues will help retain employees for a long period of time. Both forms of communication, verbal and non-verbal, are important in raising the morale of employees. A consistent communication among employees keeps them connected and updated with all the facets of the organisation. This helps in understanding the organisation and its structure in a better way. Hence, a clear, regular and productive communication gives ample amount of reasons for employees to not leave the company.

Clarity in Job Expectations Often, employees are not made clear about the importance of the role they play in an organisation. This often leads to ambiguity within employees. If this feeling is not resolved for a long time then it leads to boredom and finally disengagement. In order to avoid this, organisations need to convey an accurate description of what kind of work do they expect from an employee.

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They need to ensure that employees understand what their brand stands for so that the employees themselves become the first donors of word-of-mouth advertising. This should go on till employees have really understood their part and its significance for the growth of the organisation. Once employees get the clear picture of their tasks then nothing can stop them from being inclined towards the same company even for years.

Feedbacks and Rewards Before building a strong relationship with clients and partners, companies need to focus on building one with their employees. This is possible by giving them feedbacks whenever necessary. Honest and regular feedbacks will help good employees to keep up their good work. It gives them a kind of motivation to move forward and achieve something for themselves and their company. It also helps them assess their work willingly. Lack of feedbacks will keep them in the dark side of understanding their errors or shortcomings, if any.

In order to retain pure talent, companies need to provide their employees with regular rewards. Rewards do not always imply raise in salary, bonus or equity. Monetary benefits are necessary but in order to maintain goodwill and loyalty, employees need to be rewarded with sincere appreciation and acknowledgement. According to a research, people tend to change their job after just three years. To avoid this, many companies indulge into various forms of rewards like taking care of employee’s family, providing free vacations, enhancing employee safety and promoting employee health. This will boost longevity and help retain staff.

Creating Growth Opportunities Good and talented employees must be given ample amount of opportunities to learn and grow because they in turn are pivotal drivers of growth and improvement in any organisation. This can be done by giving them new and exciting challenges on a regular basis. This will increase their competency and enhance their ability of approaching a particular project. Companies need to take care of financial, professional and personal growth of employees so as to keep them on board for long. Employee’s skills can also be polished by investing in conferences, mentoring programs and online courses to name a few. Basically, companies need to assure all of their employees that there are plenty of career development opportunities for them and that they can grow along with the company. This will favour both the company and its employees; employees feel contented and no longer feel to quit. As a result, companies succeed in retaining their pure talent.

Along with following these steps for a better tomorrow, it is also important to know the reasons behind retaining the talented employees. Employees who are experts in their zone of work are an asset to the company. This is because after working for quite some time they start becoming loyal towards the organisation. When a client deals with a good employee for many occasions, it builds a good rapport between them. In case the same employee quits then it becomes difficult or time consuming for the client in tuning with a new recruit. After appointing a new recruit, companies also need to give in a lot of time and efforts in training that particular person. Good and experienced employees have a possibility of acquiring a better job at another company which may be a competitor of the former. This will further impose threats to an organisation. Every company will definitely want to avoid such drastic situations.

Organisations must ensure that they encourage, stimulate and make the employees feel that they are an integral part of the company and its mission. To enjoy the sweet fruit of success, organisations should understand the need to retain good employees and also practice the necessary steps to do the same.

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Amit Singh: Bringing VR to the Architectural Community

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he architecture community often faces a problem in learning and visualizing architectural structures. It is not always possible to physically visit the heritage sites due to the lack of financial resources and other challenges. With this issue in mind, a young entrepreneur Mr. Amit Singh has developed a Virtual Reality platform that caters to the problems faced by the architectural community.

Amit Singh, is the CEO and Co-founder of OutsiteVR, he is the pioneer in integrating Virtual Reality in Architecture Design & Education. Having completed his bachelor’s degree in Architecture from IIT Roorkee, he has a valuable firsthand experience in architecture. Being always on the top of his game, he has won many awards, a first prize at MIT Bootcamp at Brisbane, Australia being one of the many. He has been featured amongst world’s TOP- 100 global Innovators by Massachusetts Institute of Technology & represented India on this prestigious global innovation platform in 2018.

Amit is a key TEDx Speaker. Likewise he has been featured amongst India’s TOP-24 Innovative Entrepreneurs on CNBC & CNN TV in December, 2017.

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OutsiteVR: Shaping Architecture with Virtual Reality Founded by IIT Roorkee Alumni, OutsiteVR is the world’s first Virtual Reality Experiential Learning Platform for Architecture Community. OutsiteVR allows students, faculty and professionals to gain a fully immersive VR content experience of contemporary, historical & touristic buildings. The company established VR technique which is now making a remarkable change in the architectural design and education community; making it simpler and better to comprehend.

The company is working with the eminent industry professionals to showcase their art, design, and heritage and travel experiences in virtual reality using OutsiteVR platform. Headquartered at Gurugram, this company also operates in countries including UK & Australia.

It is the only platform which is exclusively designed for students, professors, architects, builders and art lovers.

OutsiteVR has opened the doors for people to access the best kind of education by blending together the best of the real world, the best of the study material, and the best of the virtual world technology so that the modern techniques can be utilized to obtain education effectively.

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Journeying from an architecture student to the Virtual Reality enthusiast, Amit has integrated virtual reality in architecture education system to transform learning process into more pragmatic and interactive experience.

The zeal and enthusiasm which Amit possesses has always helped him promote his passion to merge the physical & virtual world to create a more humanized experience for users. His passion has motivated his team to achieve huge success that too in very shorter time.

Amit loves experimenting with the new technologies and strongly believes in making them accessible to the students, irrespective of their financial limits. With this in mind, he has previously launched “VR Paathshala” which is India’s first VR classroom program for underprivileged kids in rural areas of India. In VR Paathshala, students from villages interact in real scale experiences in Virtual Reality. This experiential learning format has exponentially enhanced the human retention power and motivated them to learn further.

In order to achieve the same goal envisioned by the company all team members have to be synced and equally passionate about company’s goal, as the founder and leader this is very well accomplished by Amit.

Insight into the Bright Future of OutsiteVR The company OutsideVR is planning on becoming the one stop destination for immersive VR experiences of art, architecture, and travel in the world. The company believes that in the future one will be able to virtually visit any place, just sitting at their comfort zone.

Empowering its users with VR technology is the goal the company works hard towards achieving. With this mission, it is creating user controlled Virtual Reality experience, which is unique, immersive and far more interactive. India will soon be able to experience mixed reality, thanks to OutsiteVR.

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Every Great Dream Begins with Courage

Proficient guidance for Budding Startups and Entrepreneurs Encouraging nascent entrepreneurs Amit says, “To make a successful company a person requires a challenge that needs to be addressed, a vision to transform lives by your service, focus and perseverance towards your goal.

Trust, passion and a sustainable business model is also needed to become an ace entrepreneur.”

Becoming a successful leader who is humble and passionate about his goal, Amit always stands by his values that help him inspire his team towards success.

He believes leadership is to empower others, to educate and to be a humble student throughout. As a leader he considers it his responsibility to make others around him leaders, so that maximum potential of his team can be harnessed.

Speaking to the new and bright minds who wish to start a business he says, “Enter into the startup world only when you are sure you will work ten times more than that of your 9-5 job, moreover make sure people are ready to pay for your service, and always pay heed to the customers feedback” 45

Anil Nagpal: A Humble Trailblazer who Reflects Firmness with Fairness

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ce leaders always command leadership never demand leadership. Such leaders reflect humbleness and humility in almost all the circumstances. They never allow their ego to un-please anyone and always appreciate and rewards top performers of their organizations. They create a perception of fairness and equitable treatment among all the employees and exhibit respect for even junior subordinates. Top leaders encourage their colleagues to gain new skills and always assist them in climbing success ladder. They reflect firmness but with fairness. One such leader that has proved his mettle with his top notch leadership traits is Anil Nagpal, Chairman & MD, Argyle HR Solutions.

An MBA graduate from ICFAI, Anil has a proficiency in business development and carries a vast corporate experience where he has worked for various notable companies. Sixteen years of diverse experience into direct sales assists him in garnering new clients all the time which Anil considers as his biggest strength. His astuteness and diligence led him to win the prestigious “Indian Achievers Award.”

Care for Co-Workers Anil believes leading by example is the best form of

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leading and motivating a team. He feels blessed by having a team of adept professionals on board who equally contributed in the success of his organization along with the facilitators who are also a pillar of strength for Argyle. One vital reason behind the stupendous success of Anil is his involvement with all the stakeholders. He always tries to help all the stakeholders involved in the business process by extending extra support in the difficult times whenever his colleagues got stuck with some roadblocks. He even ensures that all the stake holders and team members receive their payments on time as he believes that it is a very important factor for a successful start-up business.

“Nobody will care, how much you know, until they know, how much you care” asserts Anil.

About the Company Incepted in 2008, Argyle HR Solution has built a strong reputation in less than a decade under the leadership of Anil. The company is known for its cutting-edge skill development programs in soft skills, IT skills & spoken English language skills. It is a corporate training company that provides top-notch training by keeping international standards in mind. It provides Soft Skills training, Finance training, Quality control in manufacturing training, Software training, English

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Among all these training modules, their English training program is very prominent in the industry. They have a tieup with University of Cambridge, London for English Training module & Cambridge Certification of School students in India and abroad. This collaboration opens the doors of trainee’s dreams to clear IELTS & TOEFL to go abroad for higher education and job assignments.

Argyle also conducts training for college students in Cambridge English & nurture interview skills among them in order to make them employable.

In their recruitment division, Argyle offers head hunting services for senior and middle management levels as well.

“Argyle has done exceeding well in last 7 years in the B2B segment. Now with Cambridge English programs we have decided to go in a big way in the B2C segment as well where, English is an important language and is being ignored at school level and beyond too” asserts Anil.

They have now decided to launch 100 more franchise institutes all over India in the next two years. The company believes there is a huge potential in other countries too such as Africa, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Arabic Countries, China, Japan and many more to expand its business footprint further.

Uniqueness of Argyle and Anil’s Passion Since inception, the company has come a long way and has done exceedingly well in the past seven years. Their approach has always been to keep update themselves and provides innovative techniques which encourage interactive, productive, and experimental learning.

Anil’s biggest passion is providing training to the aspirants. This passion reflects in their training modules which holistically focused on quality. Their training programs are highly engaging making it experiential learning where they use amalgamation of various methodologies for imparting training. Besides quality of training delivery, Argyle offers a wide network of more than 350 hand-picked experienced trainers at PAN India

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language & PD training, Voice & Accent training, and PoSH training as well.

level which makes their training programs highly appealing and sought-after.

Focused Approach & Father’s EQ skills played a Pivotal Role in His Success Anil receives a lot of inspiration from his parents. After seeing an initial bitter &struggled life, he learnt that hard work with focused approach is the only way for a sureshot success.

His father also played a pivotal role in shaping his personality who was known for developing good relations with people. His father’s high EQ motivated him to do something big which can impact the society at a large. He gives big credit to his father from whom he instill the vital EQ skills which assisted him to develop a robust client base and to subsequently train large number of people to succeed in their life.

Valuable Piece of Advice to Budding Entrepreneurs “My suggestion to the younger generation is that they should reflect patience and keep trust in their seniors.

They should understand that there are NO shortcuts for success. If they wish to succeed, they have to chase and focus more on personal development and relationships.

Give devotion on growth, wealth will follow automatically. If they will only chase wealth, they will be spoiling their work-life balance and may land up in rough weather soon” asserts Anil.

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EADERSHIP – the word itself narrates the power center behind. However, in the fast changing dynamics of Business and social equilibrium, the art of leadership has moved a step ahead and if you say now days i’s no more but a science, where, the leadership practices on the real ground beyond the corporate corridors. This transition requires you, the formal boss, to shift focus from interpreting information and formulating decisions to understanding and managing emotional tensions and shifting relationships: between executive team members; between them and you; and across the team’s boundaries.

Let me take you to materialistic journey where leadership is no more being practiced at the board rooms but transition has much faster toward the field.

A good leadership strategy encompasses and offers a path to help drive success for the organization. A foremost part of this success is derived from efficiently supervising persistent change through perfecting both people and processes. Managing in an environment of change and uncertainty requires leadership strategies to constantly sustain a sense of direction, while concurrently building ownership of goals and objectives for accomplishment within the organization.

Therefore a good leader is the lifeblood of any organization. Leaders have to be a heterogeneous 48

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Expert’s Opinion

mix of creativity, innovation and fervent. They need to activate the organization as a whole, solve problems resourcefully and achieve astounding increase in efficiency.

I believe there are a few leadership strategies or mantras critical to success.

Some of which are mentioned below: Delegate Responsibility to the Team Leaders Take a step forward and pass on to the team leaders. Let them exhibit their value and take advantage of their capability to help build their own individual teams. This will leave you with additional time for your significant tasks and you will be able to manage your time better.

Prepare People and Stimulate the Work Environment Expose your team to training programs and take professional courses simultaneously to perk up their skills.

Offer your employees the prospect of taking new courses to expand abilities that will also facilitate your business growth. Arranging group activities to reinforce team force and improve the work environment is something that can have a serious impact at all the levels in any organization.

Be “a go to person” that is Easily Accessible To the degree that you can, settle for an open-plan office arrangement that allows every person to communicate and see when their co-workers are busy. Do not detach from your employees. Be a part of the office landscape; spend time in common areas so that your team can approach you when they need to.

Learn to handle your E-mail’s Put aside a dedicated time during the

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day to check your e-mails, don not do it relentlessly.

Make your replies crisp and to the point. Whenever possible, take benefit of face-to-face interactions to convey the message and this will help you to be seen around the office. One should use the e-mail to elucidate or authenticate what you said in person.

Hunt for Hidden Talent and Leaders Listen to employees across all levels.

You will get to know that there are hidden talent and leaders you had overlooked and not noticed before, and they will help you put into action strategies that will move your business forward.

Discovering and identifying new leaders in your team (and polishing them) will help you construct a culture of leadership that can only work to the benefit of your projects.

Promote Planned and Tactful Leadership The challenge of many companies remains the same that is to think beyond short term. Leaders should emphasize more on strategic leadership, on thinking about the future growth prospect. It is imperative that one utilizes a long-term vision to guide their immediate business decisions and deal with problems flexibly.

Foresee and Learn A good strategic leader should always be attentive and try to foresee situations by analyzing the environment and new requirements that emerge along the way. They need to be quick in detecting the threats and opportunities that arise in their business. So take benefit of signs of change and gear yourself to keep pace with the change.

Vivek Sood is the Founder & Director of Regional Public Relations Pvt. Limited. He is a serial entrepreneur and veteran of new age PR Tactics. Having a rich experience of 18 years in the field of PR and brand building, Vivek combines a passionate commitment to client’s service and relentless pursuit. Born and brought up in hilly state of Himachal Pradesh, Vivek has started his entrepreneur journey in 2009.

His core strength area is blending traditional media with the new age PR tactics to produce quantifiable results matching the business goals of the clients. Besides PR, he strategizes brands promotional campaigns especially for the startups and SMEs. Being on the top of Regional Public Relations, Vivek is an avid traveller and if you can’t find him in the office, you can definitely find him chilling in the hilly mountains of Himachal Pradesh.

Explore your options Leaders seek and discover a series of options before concluding a result. Be flexible when trying to resolve issues and keep away from restricting yourself to basics of just yes and no options.

Update yourself thoroughly first to get a sufficient viewpoint and, when you make your choice, take a dynamic position. If you go wrong, be critical and reassess your choice.

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Dr. C. Mathiazhagan: A Zealous and a Passionate Entrepreneur with a Robust Vision

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r. C. Mathiazhagan, Founder & CEO of Hi-Tech Company Software Solutions is a passionate technocrat and holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (1995); India, Master’s Degree in Laser and Electro Optical Engineering from College of Engineering, Anna University, Guindy, Chennai, (1987) and a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai (1984).

Dr. C. Mathiazhagan first tryst with Japan came during his doctoral work in Japan University (Tokyo Institute of Technology and Nagaoka Institute of Technology) under the fellowship of Indo - Japan (Monbusho) scholarship. He was selected in Nation-wide competition for this fellowship offered by Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), New Delhi.

Dr. C. Mathiazhagan started his career as professor in the field of Mechanical Engineering, and later developed his skill towards software development and started HTSS to provide solutions in the areas of 2D/ 3D/ 4D CAD, ERP, epublication, Mobile Technology, Virtual Reality, Energy Engineering and cutting edge technologies.

Dr. C. Mathiazhagan is a Senate member and advisor for some of the Universities in India. He guided many students for their Bachelor, Master’s Degree Dissertation thesis projects since 1995. He has published several papers in international journals and conferences. He is a scholar in

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Japanese language studies, running a Japanese school and served as the visiting professor to Anna University (both CEG & MIT), Guindy for the Japanese language teaching to the first year graduate students.

Promising Services of Hi-Tech Company Software Solutions Engineering Services: HTSS is very strong in customizing the CAD packages like AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Vault, Autodesk Design Review and other Autodesk products.

BIM Customization pertaining to Construction industries: BIM (Building Information Modeling) is breaking down barriers and bridging communication between extended design and construction teams, providing consistent and reliable information across the scope of a project. An information based model for your architectural design or interior design project based on drafts, drawings and sketches, in order to communicate the design intent and information to all involved in the design process.

ERP Solutions: ERP is principally an integration of business management practices and modern technology.

They have ample experience in integrating information technology with the core business processes of a corporate house to streamline and accomplish specific business objectives.

Web development / Cloud Application development: The interactive and innovative websites can empower a business

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in a large scale. Using the latest technologies in Web designing and innovative work force, they provide rich and fitting web solutions to your needs.

An Inspirational Element of Dr. Mathiazhagan The technology change is very fast. The emerging technology is also not surviving for more than 2 to 3 years.

This is a challenging one for the entrepreneurs to keep them alive always. The most inspirational element is the willingness of the employees in learning the new technologies, decoding the client mind looking for the various emerging technology and thorough implementation up to their satisfaction. At last the smiling “thanks” note from the client is the most inspirational element driving us ahead.

A Unique take of Hi-Tech Company Software Solutions The company is known for their strong and committed leadership team, HTSS provides valuable partnership with their clients with best-in-class resources and infrastructure.

They dispense secure, scalable and flexible Cutting-Edge Business solutions along with community-wide knowledge management. HTSS provides clients with the best IT services value in the industry, delivering “tier-one” service quality at a “tier-two” cost to enable clients to gain competitive advantage while enhancing the value of their business.

To offer exceptional value to their customers, HTSS always have the hunger and energy to update themselves with the latest cutting edge technologies like Virtual Reality, Cloud Solutions, and Big Data Analytics etc. HTSS strongly believes that their business must keep pace with the speed of thought and they always ’think beyond future’ A True Definition of Successful Leader Successful Leaders is Self Belivers, “Remember, there are no mistakes, only lessons. Love yourself, trust your choices and everything is possible”, Dr. Mathiazhagan asserted.

Success of a Business, “The essence of success in business, I believe, is the intangible quality that means having integrity no matter what the situation? Win or loss? not being afraid to take risks, and your ability to bounce back after tremendous setbacks”.

Exploring/discovering are regular habits of many successful leaders. They read many blogs and real time stories. And they constantly dig for more information. Once they discover something, they are happy to share it with the team. They bring us products that may happen in future or provide a new perspective on something that already exists. ™

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Future Footsteps HTSS has come a long way in 20 years. From a startup to a well-established software services company, HTSS’s growth was steady and focused. HTSS is planning to increase the clientele list and expanding the skill sets in to the latest technologies. Apart from that, HTSS is moving towards getting itself listed as a public limited company in the near future.

Significant Advice by Dr. C. Mathiazhagan Effective Leaders are great thinkers. They generate ideas based on their surroundings. They cross pollinate ideas.

They are constantly learning and thinking and sharing.

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.”

“Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them.

They have developed the opportunity that was at hand.”

Perhaps the most difficult thing to do as an entrepreneur is to own up that your startup is going nowhere. It might be the bravest thing to do as well. Founders fall so deeply in love with their idea that they refuse to believe any outside perspective. Often this leads to many wasted hours, resources and eventually, founders suffer from bouts of depression. Hence, the mantra the Young generation should know ’Learn Lessons from the experienced how to tackle the worst situation, their experiences are valuable asset.”

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very employee spends almost one-third of its daily time while working on a standalone workstation.

This sedentary lifestyle takes a toll on employee’s health and lead to many detrimental health effects.

Inefficiency at work, lack of focus, stress, weakened memory, anxiety and more are the by-product of a sedentary lifestyle that never turns out in favor of any company.

While maintaining own health is employees’ own responsibility but it’s the employer who gains most by looking after its employees’ healthcare needs. Ultimately, employees are like the real oil that drives the growth engine of any company. Thus to promote a healthy lifestyle at workplace is in the vested interest of any company which can never turned out to be futile.

There are many organizations across the globe known for promoting a healthy lifestyle through their ultramodern wellness infrastructure that too either at free of cost or at very subsidized rate. These infrastructures comprise of all those amenities which are sufficient to lift-up anyone’s mood, even of a miserable person. A corporate gym, yoga sessions, meditation chamber, spa, massages and more can create an electrifying office environment.

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HEALTHY MIND

Dazzling Wellness Perks and Amenities can

Yield Better

PRODUCTIVITY

at Workplace

Organizations that have built a Niche with Progressive Healthcare Facilities Organizations understand that it is not easy to stay relevant in the competition for long just by hiring the right talent. The race has gone too far, now-a-days companies want to do everything that can attract and retain proficient individuals in their organization especially at the times when each day one new competitor is getting born to outpace the other. Thus to keep smart, creative, and out-of-the box thinkers on their board for long, many organizations are giving special emphasis on creating an electrifying office environment that can fascinate employees with its dazzling wellness centers, alluring perks and ultra-modern amenities,.

Unilever: This consumer goods giant has crafted four state-of-the-art wellness zones in its office premises to promote a healthy lifestyle. Each of its zone has own significance and purpose. Its ‘Connection Bridge’ zone let the employees to have a meaningful dialogue that too in a soothing environment. ‘Movement’ zone is made to encourage employees to perform yoga, stretching exercise and provides the facilities of massages as well for reducing stress. Rest two zones provide the facilities of free healthy and lip-smacking food (cafeteria) and a completely silent restroom for taking a nap.

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Nike: This Oregon-based multinational firm goes extra miles to create an exhilarating environment at workplace. Its ‘Bo Jackson Center’ has weight rooms, yoga studios, cross training rooms, indoor basket-ball court and a turf field. The ‘Sports Performance Center’ is another jewel in the crown of Nike which let its employees blood flow in high powered workout areas that include gym, an Olympic sized swimming pool, rock climbing wall and multiple running trails and tracks. These fitness options promote the release of mood-elevating endorphin and create a positive feeling in the body that assist employees in keep recharged with energy throughout the day by burning extra calories.

Google: This search engine powerhouse comes on the top of the ladder when it comes to offer wellness option to their employees. On its Silicon Valley campus, employees can avail delicious and nutritious foods all three times a day include juice bars.

Apart from its ultra-modern gymnasium, the company is known for its futuristic ‘nap pods’ that allow employees to take a snooze not only at the time of illness but in between the works as well just to refresh the mind.

Soothing noises in the nap pods make it unique and augment the relaxation while sleeping. Top performer often rewarded with ‘massage credits’ for taking free massages on the campus. Facilities like physician visit, chiropractic treatment, physical therapy, cooking classes, guitar lessons, ping-pong tables and more facilitates to boost employees attentiveness throughout the day.

Drapper, Inc.: This manufacturing giant has a wellness park at the edge of its property that comprises of a onefifth mile track, workout station, table-tennis and volleyball courts. The company holds a 10 week weight loss challenge and encourages employees to maintain a healthy weight to overcome obesity.

In order to make their office obesity free, the company offers gift cards, and several cash prizes as well to encourage greater participation by keeping things enjoyable and competitive.

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They create a monthly newsletter as well named as ‘Wellness Superheroes’ to showcase the name of employees that have drain a good amount of sweat in the workout session and maintain a healthy lifestyle at work.

Additionally, Drapper holds an annual health fair, hosts Weight Watchers classes, walking competitions and Zumba sessions as well to promote good health.

A Win-Win Situation for All These ultra-modern wellness infrastructures can have significant financial benefits for employers business as these promote good health and nurture a healthy mind.

And assist an employee in maintaining good health which in turn stands out to be helpful for him in reflecting improved concentration, efficiency and resultdriven output at work.

According to one book ‘Fit over 40 for Dummies’ cited

by Betsy Nagelsen McCormack and Mike Yorkey, enterprises found that they save $1.15 to $5.52 per dollar spent on employee due to corporate gym. Corporations that have established fitness programs have experienced decreased absenteeism, lower turnover rates and reduced usage of sick leave, which saved money and increased productivity. Thus having a fitness zone comprises of various fascinating feature is a win-win situation for both the employee and the employer.

“To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear”, The Buddha, Celebrated Philosopher and Spiritual Guru.

In contemporary times, thus any organization which aspires to become a top-notch enterprise of their business vertical should promote a productive wellness program in their office premises. A well designed on-premise wellness program with state-of-the-art facilities has the potential to bring greater prosperity and happiness not only for the organization but for the employees as well.

Ultimately, a healthy environment encourages healthy body and a healthy body boosts employees’ thought process. A creative thought process triggers revolutionary ideas, which is the most vital necessity for creating great empires out of a scratch.

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Mohar V: Revolutionizing the World of Usability and Design

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n today’s world, digital technology and strategy are disrupting businesses, wreaking havoc on wellestablished business models and shifting entire industries. Digital innovation relentlessly commoditizes and rewrites the rulebook for business. In many organizations, digital is a cacophony of disconnected, inconsistent and sometimes incompatible activities.

Organizations looking to generate revenue from digital technologies need a strategy that is more powerful than digital substitution. They need to create a digital edge, where digital information and physical resources combine in new ways to create value and revenue.

Enterprises are seeking digital edge transform processes, business models, and the customer experience by exploiting the pervasive digital connections between systems, people, places, and things. Any company large or small, old or new can use this digital technology to create a winning edge for its business and perhaps, its industry.

Cognizant of this fact, Mohar V is leading TECHVED Consulting, a global Usability and Design hub, towards becoming the most trusted brand to provide UX solutions to digital products. At TECHVED they are

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equipped with exquisite research facilities, large databases and state-of-the-art usability labs to carry out User Research and provide UX solutions for their global clients.

Mohar V, a Business Evangelist, has 20+ years of experience spread across various business verticals as a UX/UI design thinker. At TECHVED Consulting, a thought leader, and UX design powerhouse, he brings this vast experience on the table as a Business Evangelist to multi-manage various disciplinary assignments on Digital Strategy & Business Innovation. His focus is to revolutionize Digital Product Experience by providing exceptional User Experience Design services.

He has an extensive experience in various aspects of enterprise in Digital Strategy, UX/UI Design and Technology Innovation. With an excellent Business & Digital Innovation Experience in Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Manufacturing, Logistics and Supply Chain domain, he also led the digital transformations within the organizations.

As the Business Evangelist & Digital Strategist at TECHVED Consulting, Mohar multi-manages various disciplinary assignments on Digital Strategy & Business

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Inspiring Values “Helping our customers achieve success through our path-breaking services drives me to do better,” says Mohar. Breathing life into delightful and inventive designs with passion is TECHVED’s USP. And ensuring that this fire burns bright at our agency, as it has been for the past decade, keeps Mohar motivated to give his very best.

Innovative Services Driving TECHVED Forward TECHVED Consulting has already established itself as a thought-leader in the UX domain across all of South-east Asia. They have been in this game longer than any other firm has and they are just getting started. Moreover, TECHVED is not only helping drive businesses but also believes in bringing the UX Community closer.

TECHVED delivers innovative solutions to its clients from various domains. Their User Experience Design platform offers a pleasant and happy experience for customers while they use Websites, Apps, Wearable tech, products or any services. The User Research and Evaluation platform help bring in clarity and help in planning the improvements that the clients need to ensure on the web interface. Optimizing websites and creating an experience, Conversion Rate Optimization platform helps their clients convert visitors to conversions. TECHVED Consulting helps their clients to shape their business’ digital future with cutting-edge technology.

The passion to bring phenomenal digital experiences to life at the company pushes Mohar to navigate the

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Innovation. Under his expert guidance, TECHVED Consulting is globally been acclaimed as the Digital Strategy & Design Powerhouse with various International Design & Innovation Awards. He loves building exciting professional acquaintances and transform Digital Product Experiences. He ensures that at TECHVED they bring about innovative digital solutions for the clients and help them grow their business across geographies.

simplest of day-to-day challenges and helps him put his best foot forward every day to make sure the company achieves all its goals.

Expert Advice for Budding Entrepreneurs “Today’s Generation Z is looking for ways to find the shortest possible route to success. My advice would be to stay focused and put in honest work because there’s no substitute to hard work Lead from the front, always. Be passionate about your work and value those you work with,” says Mohar.

He also suggests a customer-centric approach. “Just like a UX Design needs to adopt a user-centric approach to be successful, a business needs to center its clients at its heart to achieve success. Listening to the clients’ requirements and then providing them innovative solutions will never fail to establish your brand as an exception in the market,” advice Mohar.

Future Roadmap TECHVED plans to continue leading innovation in the field of UX for the years to come. They are integrating and equipping themselves with the latest in technology like AR, VR and Artificial Intelligence to constantly provide the clients with the best of digital experiences.

Additionally, they are expanding themselves and making a global impact as they gear up to impart education for budding UXers across the globe.

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R Narayan An Assiduous Leader with an Innovative Streak

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uccessful business leaders are known for their perseverance, creativity, dedication, and their passion to succeed. They are the ones who overcome insurmountable odds and build their own destiny. One such leader with an innovative outlook and a knack to succeed is R Narayan, the Founder & CEO of Power2SME. As a leader, his primary responsibility is to establish a sustainable company culture of innovation and motivation.

He feels that upholding a certain value system in place ensures that the employees will take the company in the right direction.

Spearheading Power2SME means establishing a vision that the company can work collectively towards- a task neither easy to institute nor to attain. Therefore hiring the right people who share the company’s vision and are committed to working and creating perfect symbiosis to do the same is essential. He feels that the employees are the flag bearers of the organization who ensure that the values are applied consistently from top to bottom, across all departments.

As primary chronicler of the story of his company, it is also important for Narayan to attract an audience and stakeholders for the narrative- this includes gathering investors who believe in his vision and want to partner to manifest it. It also includes looking after public affairs and ensuring that they are in consonance with all the

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developments and debates to make the SME sector grow by leaps and bounds.

Proper Delegation Narayan states that by having great deputies in the right place, organizational activities can be smoothly conducted.

He says that he was lucky enough to have found a great Senior Management for the company to head each department. Each of these distinguished professionals has outstanding experience in their line of work and most importantly, make a great team. They along with their respective teams ensure smooth and seamless business operations of the company, leaving him to focus on growth and expansion plans.

Facing Challenges Head-On Narayan asserts that while other companies have a sale oriented approach, Power2SME’s business model revolves strictly around the problems an Indian SME faces in working. The very conception of the company was to eliminate the primary hurdles and then gradually expand to address the other issues. They keep SMEs at the heart of the company’s affairs and move forward. With the objective of reaching SMEs across India, they are rapidly expanding operations across the country.

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Secrets of a Successful Leader As per Narayan, good leaders need to instill faith in their beliefs and stand by their guns. They need to be a dreamer and a doer at the same time; without one, the other would fail. They need to be great communicators and get the real message across with minimal effort- both to their team and clients- that includes communicating facts that are hard to take. A good leader takes all responsibility, whether the repercussions are good or bad.

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Trailblazing Through the Industry

Power2SME.com functions as a ‘buying club’ and help SMEs benefit from economies of scale as a result of volume purchase and buying power across a large network of manufacturers.

FinanSME.com is an online lending platform built and designed by Power2SME to help SMEs with easy access to financial institutes for various types of loan requirements.

SMEshops.com is the most user-friendly virtual marketplace to buy & sell goods online for SMEs in India and is one stop provider for all SME MRO (Maintenance, repair and operations) needs.

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Power2SME’s service works to address the need gap across two critical areas for SMEs: raw material sourcing at best market price on Power2SME.com and working capital requirements via FinanSME.com. Power2SME also caters to the growing demand for MRO goods (Maintenance, Repair and Operations) through its third platform called SMEshops.com.

He says that the manufacturing SME sector’s contribution to India’s GDP is expected to increase from the present 8% to 12% by 2020. Realizing the enormous opportunity that the SME sector presents for economic and social welfare and its potential to transform India’s business landscape, the government has conceived various campaigns (Make in India, Startup India etc.) and policies that will have a longterm impact on the economy.

Marching Ahead Under the astute leadership of R Narayan, Power2SME has hired a pan-India team so that they can cater to multiple regions for multiple product categories. They attract employees from core sectors like steel, metal, paints etc., and the infusion of talent is helping them to rapidly scale their revenues.

Narayan considers 2020 a big year for the company: he intends to make Power2SME a Rs 6,000 crore company and hopes to take the company public by then. He wants to establish a self-sufficient SME ecosystem and is willing do whatever it takes to get there.

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The company operates out of 21 cities in India. Narayan plans to make Power2SME bigger and better.

Advice for Budding Entrepreneurs Narayan feels that the life expectancy of companies is upwards of 200 years. He advises emerging businesspersons to build enterprises that outlast them. He also suggests that they keep innovating to make sure that they are moving with the time. He says that persistence is the core ingredient for success.

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Rahul Sahdev: An Invigorating Entrepreneur Delivering Path Breaking Telecom Solutions

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he telecommunication industry in India is witnessing an unprecedented pace of growth over the last few years. The emergence of an affluent middle class is creating the increased demand for the mobile and internet segments. Driven by the increased nonvoice revenues and higher penetration in the rural market, the telecommunication industry is poised to experience further growth. As the second-largest telecommunication market in the world, the sector has become a major contributor of the country’s GDP and employment growth.

Adacell Technologies is one such prominent company which has evolved as a matured player in the telecommunication market.

growth and high performance. His robust analysis, sharp strategic insights and unique operational experience, make him the ideal candidate to execute market-shaping entrepreneurial growth or swiftly turnaround underperforming businesses in either General Management, or CEO roles. His thorough understanding of financial market and the ability to apply capital market and economic frameworks gave him instant credibility with the Boards, CEOs and financial markets. Over the years, he has successfully managed various global services portfolio like operations and management, network planning and design, energy management, and infrastructure management.

The Inspiration which Enhances Productivity

An Ingenious mind Rahul Sahdev is one such pragmatic leader who has been instrumental in taking Adacell to the new heights of success. As the CEO and Managing Director of the company, Rahul gives utmost importance on selecting an exceptional management team and developing a culture that will support success, innovation, and initiative. An MBA graduate from Sydney University, his strong business acumen in sales and business management has assisted him to deliver and drive the turnarounds of underperforming businesses. In a short span of four years, he has successfully managed to put the company on a steady trajectory of

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Rahul is very passionate about his work. After working for some of the biggest telecom companies in India and overseas, he saw an opportunity to contribute in a unique way. That’s how the idea of venturing his own company was born as he wanted to develop unique solutions to cater the current state of the network in the country. He firmly believes building a robust network solution was the key to attain success in the telecom industry.

Attributes of a Successful Leader Talking about the attributes of a leader, Rahul explains that

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Adacell Technologies Adacell is a leading Infrastructure Services Company focused on telecom and power. It offers innovative solutions in providing network services to telecom operators, OEM’s, and tower companies. The company specializes in the areas of cellular network planning, operation & maintenance optimization, and project management on GSM, GPRS/EDGE, CDMA 3G-1X, CDMA EV-DO, WCDMA, and Wimax technologies. The company has a strong presence in India along with having an overseas presence in Myanmar and Australia. Instead of offering services in a scattered format, Adacell offers a complete solution related to network services. Some of the mentionable products are: Installation and Commissioning Installing is an integral part of the entire process and the company ensures that the installation and commissioning process is completed with precision and within the timelines. Transporting is another area which is done as per the client’s requirement.

Microwave Engineering Network planning requires strategies and forward planning as it is crucial to make provisions for future innovative technology. The company offers LOS survey for backbone and intra-city access link along with path profile analysis based on digital and TOPO maps.

Operation and Maintenance The company looks over the O&M of BTS/BSC sites under all types of works which includes preventive and regular maintenance, daily/weekly & monthly checkpoints. Routine verification and checking of critical equipment’s are carried and 24/7 support is provided to avoid an outage.

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a leader has to be honest with his employees as well as his esteemed clients as it assists the leader to perform his activities without any hitch. For a company to succeed, understanding the customer’s perspective along with having an eye of detail for every activity is the key to attain accomplishment.

Advice for Budding Entrepreneurs The young generation always looks forward to the successful business leaders and tries to figure out a path to imitate the success. For the ‘to be’ entrepreneurs and professionals, Rahul firmly suggests them to avoid shortcuts in their professional journey. He adds further by saying that success doesn’t come quickly so patience is the key.

Hard work and luck plays a major role in the life of a professional.

Current Challenges and the Future Roadmap Elaborating on the current challenges, Rahul asserts that a lot has to be done to improve the coverage and quality of the network, however, due to the scarcity of investments, increased operating costs, and reduced margins, these areas are neglected. He further adds that the nature of the current market is very competitive and complex. Within these tough market conditions, Adacell still manages to grow at a steady pace of sixty to eighty percent every year and have an ambitious target to achieve hundred percent growth in the fiscal year 2018-19. In order to cement themselves as one of the leading telecom services providers, the company plans to expand their operations in the unexplored territories like Indonesia, MEA, and Africa in the near future.

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Subrat Parida: A Passionate Leader Delivering Best Business Solutions in the Field of AI

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n organization aims toward spreading its business over the globe while satisfying its client’s expectations. Every organization holds a pyramid which consists of various roles and responsibilities. One such position which stands at the top of this pyramid is that of the CEO. The CEO helps to make big transformations by delivering his or her significance, modeling the desired changes, building a strong team and taking essential financial stands.

Being the head-honcho of the company, he ensures all the goals and milestones are being achieved within a predefined time-frame to provide best quality results to his customers. His dedication and consistence towards his work reflects when he asserted, “During spare times, I can be found brainstorming with my team members about how to take Racetrack to a global level in the field of AI.” About the Leading Company

One such CEO, who is very dynamic and is successfully spearheading his business in the Artificial Intelligence roost, is Subrat Parida, CEO & Founder of Racetrack.ai, which is India’s first AI innovation hub for sales & support. After Subrat’s two successful startups in a row, he introduced Racetrack in the market which is heating up the AI field. He is a very keen and dynamic leader who not only focuses on ensuring a motivated ambience & lively work culture, but also focuses on customer satisfaction and customer enablement and thus making him as one of the successful businessmen of the era.

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Racetrack.ai is the first AI innovation hub for sales and support whose clients belong to diverse industries like Travel & Tourism, Healthcare, BFSI, Real Estate and more. It has proved to be a prominent B2B2C organization in India which holds two major AI products, namely, MARVIN TM & TURINGTM. The company specializes in revolutionizing sales & support by helping clients to be more flexible, achieving their business targets, expanding operations, enhancing brand experience, shortening sales cycles, and boosting crosssale & up-sale, which offers competitive advantages to its customers. The company also serves its customers

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Subrat’s Thoughts on a Successful Leader and Organization While taking his view on how to develop a successful organization, Subrat asserts, “The factors which play a vital role in achieving success are Teamwork, Predefined Planning, Effective Strategy Planning, Timeline Defined Goals, an Uplifting Work Culture, and an Impeccable Vision.”

Leaders have a definition for success which assists them throughout their journey. Likewise, Subrat believes that in order to achieve success, a leader should be capable of taking calculated amount of risks, sense all the hidden pros and cons, and should have a clear understanding of market dynamics.

Speaking on what makes Racetrack.ai unique, he said, “Our strong conviction, clear focus, cravings for innovation, and constant dedication differentiates us from others in this field.”

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work Subrat refers his team as a ‘talent pool’ which comprises of excellent minds from the different verticals that make the organization’s work culture versatile and flexible. He and his team are highly focused, persistent, innovative, inspired, and cumulative, making them the pioneer in the field of AI in India. A strong strategy behind the uniqueness of his team is that they compete with themselves and thrive hard to surpass their client’s expectations.

Subrat’s effective leadership makes his team capable to think loudly and differently to deliver pragmatic solutions to the clients in varied fields like technology or marketing, branding or development, and QA or UI/UX. His core team members work in synchronization with each other which assists the organization to keep its zeal, enthusiasm and curiosity on the peak.

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more efficiently and effectively and generates incremental revenue for the organization.

Subrat’s Inspirational Source One can always learn from his past experiences and Subrat too believes in learning from the past. On asking him about his driving force, he stated, “Indians have a glorious history of innovations in the field of Science and Mathematics since ages. We taught the world to count.

Having such a past is itself a source of inspiration and keeps driving me and my team to innovate, do the undone, and to achieve what others think is impossible to do.” He believes that leaders with a strong conviction, compassion towards the workforce, respect for the coworkers and a sense of responsibility and ownership accomplish their goals faster among their peers.

Racetrack.ai has rolled up its sleeves to spread its business overseas and to place it as one of the most influential global leaders in the AI field. Under Subrat’s leadership, the company is looking forward to extend its operations over the globe and endeavoring to establish its product MARVINTM as the most effective Sales and Support Consultant across the globe.

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: Challenges, Solutions, and Future

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or humans, learning has always been a big and very important problem to solve. We have raced ahead of all the other species, because we were able to learn and innovate. People, in all throughout the human history, have experimented with new ways of learning and spreading it to the masses. Think about the innovation of Writing Paper, Fountain Pens, Typewriters, Printers, etc. and how each of these inventions has hugely impacted our lives and made learning better and faster. Again, we are at a turn of time where we will redefine the way we learn and take a giant leap in the human history.

Internet and Smartphone penetration to smaller towns, and even villages, has made it possible that Technology can bring learning to everyone, everywhere. While this solves the accessibility problem, it still lacks in one very crucial thing. That is, a single learning resource cannot teach everyone, as everyone has a different understanding and a way of learning.

So, to make it work, it has to be personalized. Technologists all over the world are empowering Personalized Online Learning by collecting insights on various learning methods, and parameters and implementing them in the form of Innovative products.

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Data science is playing a huge role in helping create the conductive conditions for Personalized Learning.

It works as a knowledge gathering and feedback system, which collects thousands of data points and keeps feeding it to the system, making the system smarter. These data points can be generated by making use of several factors and information and a detailed, consolidated set can be created using data science.

There are four major steps involved when we learn anything; Learning, Assessment, Benchmarking, and Application. Each of these steps is a problem in itself, having many aspects that need to be solved. If we are to take an instance of how data can be significant, then consider a picture where a student is getting a performance chart after an activity. He can get a deep insight into his learning, strong/weak areas, along with comparative insights right after completing the exercise. This can further be extended in helping a student, by identifying his learning pattern and providing him more personalized learning.

traditional learning system to cater.

Several inferences and metrics can be drawn after extracting the usergenerated data which can be utilized to their utmost potential in defining a learning behavior. This learning behavior will eventually lead to the advent of a personal trainer or socalled ‘Virtual Trainer’ which will be a replacement for the physical teacher.

The training will be customized according to the need of the learner.

How does that sound? Of course flexible enough! Again, technology plays a crucial role here as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will be the entities that will drive the things.

Like I said earlier, it is a very Important and Huge problem to solve and we all need to come together to solve it. Testbook is doing its bit in the Edtech space by empowering 30 lakh+ students to prepare for Hundreds of Exams. Through Data Science, we are identifying common Pain Points and creating products and features that solve these. We are also equipping students with Insights and Elements that are helping them Study Smarter and Faster.

The future of Virtual Learning is shining bright, as it offers opportunities that seem cumbersome for the June 2018|

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LEARNING STEPS

Ashutosh Kumar CEO & Co-founder

About the Author Ashutosh Kumar the CEO & Co-founder of Testbook.com. He is an IITB Alumnus and has been reforming the education and education technology space for the past 8 years. His previous efforts included ExcelMentors, an education startup designed to mentor students.

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