The 30 Young and Dynamic Entrepreneurs to watch in 2019

www.insightssuccess.in

VOL 3 MARCH - 2019 ISSUE-3

The 30 Young

and Dynamic

Entrepreneurs to watch in 2019

Piyush Nyati Executive Director

Piyush An Innovation-Driven Leader Benchmarking The Real Estate Industry

Nyati

Editor

From the

A

lthough, every entrepreneur has different goals, they all operate under the same principle–to transform ideas into a successful business venture.

In today’s world, entrepreneurs are playing an important role in shaping the economy of nations. Be it creating jobs, wealth or quenching society needs, entrepreneurs act as a sparkplug in the economy’s engine.

The Role of Entrepreneurs in the Growth of the Economies

Active and enthusiastic entrepreneurs are fully exploring the potential of the country’s available resources – Labor, Technology, and Capita. Entrepreneurship plays an important role in increasing the Gross National Product and Per Capita Income, creating new business, capital formation, and overall regional development of any nation. They are prime movers of innovation. They seek change, see the needs of society and then bring in the manpower, material, and capital together in order to fulfill the needs of the nation.

The role of entrepreneurship in economic development varies from country to country, depending upon its material resources, industrial climate and the responsiveness of the political system to the entrepreneurial function. Developing countries like India represent great opportunities for newage entrepreneurs as it fosters innovation and employment.

Employment generation by the private sector, especially by entrepreneurs is serving as the foundation of the emerging economies.

To achieve this goal of economic development, it is necessary to increase entrepreneurship both qualitatively and quantitatively. Entrepreneurs have and are still transforming many things in India. The credit for this transformation goes to entrepreneurs, budding startups, and efficient government reforms, which have played a pivotal role in empowering the economies in the longer run. They have shown a strong desire to take India towards a better future. Now, the key expectation from the government is to create a stable and clear policy environment that can facilitate long-term business and investment planning.

On the whole, the role of entrepreneurship in the economic development of a nation can be best described as “An economy is the effect for which entrepreneurship is the cause”.

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Managing Editor Devasish Kanojiya Executive Editor Abhijeet Kakade Art & Design Head Amol Kamble Associate Designer Poonam, Shweta Art & Picture Editor Rahul Kavanekar Co-designer Sapana, Deepanjali Business Development Manager Akansha Garewal Sales Executives Asif, Tarun Technical Head Swapnil Patil Technical Specialist Vivek, Pratiksha Digital Marketing Manager Prashant, Rahul SME-SMO Executives Swati, Manoj Circulation Manager Tanaji sales@insightssuccess.com

March, 2019 Corporate Ofď€ ces: Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. th

Off. No. 513 & 510, 5 Flr., Rainbow Plaza, Shivar Chowk, Pimple Saudagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411017 Phone - India: +91 7410079881/ 82/ 83/ 84/ 85 Email: info@insightssuccess.in For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.in

Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com

Cover Price : RS. 150/Follow us on :

www.facebook.com/insightssuccess/

https://twitter.com/insightssuccess

We are also available on : Copyright Š 2019 Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd., All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success. Printed and Published by Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. RNI NUMBER: MAHENG/2019/75953

COVER STORY

10 Piyush Nyati An Innovation-Driven Leader Benchmarking the Real Estate Industry

24

30

32

Anish Gupta

Anshul Saxena

Avinash Chandra

Youngest Digital Political Campaigner and Business Consultant

An Ardent Entrepreneur Creating a Cyber Secure World

Revamping the Digital Experience

CONTENTS 56

INTERVIEW

68 20 Saurabh Kabra A Decisive leader Unlocking Doors of Opportunity

CXO Standpoint

Expert’s Advise

Winning the war for talent with technology tools

Tips for Building a Strong Brand Image

26 Utkarsh Bansal A Versatile Creative Leader

38

In Conversation with Anuj Kumar a Data Enthusiast and Entrepreneur with the Vision to Democratize Analytics

40

44

Mahesh Garg

Narayan Neelakantan

A Tech Wizard with a Digital Wand in Hand

A Technocrat in the Cyber Security Space

ARTICLES

34

50

Entrepreneurship Insights

Inspirational Bits

How Technologies are fostering the growth of Entrepreneurship?

Words of Wisdom from Young Entrepreneurs

54 Rajesh Doshi

46

RedeďŹ ning Real Estate, One Home at a Time

60

Rajeev Kumar

Rajiv Sharma

A Doyen in the Field of VFX and Animation

A Perseverant Leader Benchmarking the Information Technology

66 Shailendra Bramhvanshi

62

A Dexterous Block Chain and AI Expert

70

Renil Komitla

Varahagiri Srinivas

A Perseverant Articulator

Dreamer, Believer, and Achiever

Vision: A Key Ingredient of Success in Businesses “Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is merely day dreaming, but vision with action can change the world” -Nelson Mandela.

A successful leader’s vision guides his actions, inspires and motivates its employees, and gives the purpose. There’s is nothing more satisfying than having strong beliefs, clarity of vision and the mission for the company through which one could climb the stairs of success. Missions are intended to clarify what company wants to do while a successful leader with vision outlines How to do it.

In this edition, we introduce “The 30 Young and Dynamic Entrepreneurs to watch in 2019” who are contributing distinctively in transforming the scenario of different sectors. Assessing the scenario in versatile perceptions, this edition also emphasizes the companies that provide utmost quality of product services and products. This list showcases the entrepreneurs who are benchmarking their presence in their respective sectors.

On the cover page, we have showcased Piyush Nyati, Executive Director of Nyati Group. Nyati Group is amongst the trusted names in the real estate industry offering various residential and commercial projects.

Anish Gupta is the Founder of Wise Business Technologies. It is a front-runner in digital marketing and website designing company in India. Anshul Saxena is the CEO of Halt Dos.com Pvt. Ltd. It is an AI-driven website protection service that secures websites against today's cyber threats. Anuj Kumar is Co-founder of FORMCEPT. It is an AI-powered product company delivering seamless data analytics in real-time through its augmented data management product MECBot. Rajeev Kumar is the COO of Drishyam VFX. It is a globally recognized post-production studio with VFX as its core. Rajiv Sharma is the CEO of Virgosys Software Pvt. Ltd. Virgosys Software Pvt. Ltd has its offshore development center, custom software development firm in Bangalore. Rajesh Doshi is the Managing Director & CEO of Acme Group. It is one of the leading real estate companies in Mumbai developing residential & commercial projects. Avinash Chandra is the Founder of BrandLoom Consulting. It is a Go-To-Market “Digital Brand Commerce” company offering Strategic Branding, e-Commerce and Digital Marketing Services. Mahesh Garg is the CEO of FLYONIT. It is a one-stop shop for the entire IT related infrastructure. Srinivas Varahagiri is the Founder of Prathigna. It is a HR solutions company that specializes in hiring and sourcing, with the

additional focus on building a reliable, established brand name in online job portals – called Hullo Jobs. Shailendra Bramhvanshi, Umesh Mahadik, Sagar Salukne are Founder, Co-founder, Co-founder of Techaroha Solutions Pvt. Ltd Respectively. Techaroha is a Blockchain and AI Company based in Mumbai.

Narayan Neelakantan is Co-founder and CEO at Block Armour. It is a next-gen enterprise Cybersecurity solution that leverages Blockchain Technology to secure critical enterprise systems and IoT communication. Renil Komitla is the President and CEO of Terralogic. It is a leading software services, IT and Digital Transformation Company in India.

We also feature Saurabh Kabra, Director – Business Operations India at Truvison as interview with insights success. Truvison is Europe based consumer electronics & Appliances Company comprises of state of the art Televisions, Home Audio, Air Conditioners, and other Appliances. We also include Utkarsh Bansal, Director of Utkarsh India Limited as Interview with Insights Success.

Utkarsh India Limited is a label in the infrastructure domain in.

Along with this we have also listed – Anu Veledandi, Owner of MOKSHA MEDIA, Ashutosh Kumar, CEO & Co-founder of Testbook. , Kushal Rastogi, CAIA - Founder and CEO QuantMagnum, Ravi Kumar, Founder and COO of The udChalo, Jigar Mehta - Co-founder of Honey Twigs , Yuvraj Tomar, Founder & CEO of Thinqbot Technologies Private Limited , Amol Gulhane, Director and Co-founder - Robolab Technologies Pvt Ltd. Anil Raikundlia, Managing Director - Maple Consulting & Services, Tushar Vadera, Co-founder at Innolat Technologies, Anil Gidh, President - Arya Communications & Electronics Services, Akash Bansal, Founder and CEO of Flitpay, Yaswant Mishra, President(Corporate) & CFO of mangalamcement.com, Nitin Purswani, Founder - Zepo.in, Varun Saxena, Founder / CEO Career Anna, Adithya Buddhavarapu, Co-founder - FOCALCXM , Amit Jain - MD & CEO Integrated Tech9 Labs Private Limited, Tanmay Sethi, Co-founder - Nebulaa Innovations, Sanachit Mehra, Founder/CEO, Cateina Technologies.

Our in-house editors have come up with some adroitly written articles such as, ‘How technologies are fostering the growth of entrepreneurship?’ and info graphic named ‘Words of Wisdom from Young Entrepreneurs’ We also have included CXO like ‘Tips for Building a Strong Brand Image’ written by Sunil Agarwal who is Director of Vinod Cookware and ‘Winning the war for talent with technology tools’ written by Kapil Sharma who is Chief Sales Officer–International Business of Collabera.

It’s time to flip the pages and explore your entrepreneurial spirit with a feeling of reading pleasure!

An Innovation - Driven Leader Benchmarking The Real Estate Industry

Cover Story

Piyush Nyati Executive Director

NYATI UNITREE

shot on Location

MahaRERA Registration no. P52100000455

NYATI EVARA

BOUTIQUE OFFICES & HIGH-END RETAILSPACES

2 & 3 RHK HOMES

NAGAR ROAD, PUNE

UNDRI, PUNE

“Blessed with the combination of experienced peers and a hunger to experiment, don’t hesitate to take risks or miss new opportunities. I believe in innovation and try my best to introduce something new in every endeavour, without worrying about how it would be critically received” These words by Piyush Nyati, Executive Director of Nyati Group, emphasize that innovation is about believing in a vision to create new products or services. After pursuing a

degree in Building Construction Management Technology from Purdue University, Piyush joined the family business in 2011. From conceptualization to delivery, Piyush spearheads the Real Estate vertical of Nyati Group - the most trusted name in the real estate industry. At a young age

‘‘

I believe in innovation and try my best to introduce something new in every endeavor

‘‘

W

ith great risk often comes great reward. There are failures, setbacks, and even complete do-overs along the way, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

With risks, comes the satisfaction that often arises from succeeding at bigger challenges.

he was honoured with awards like “Young Achievers Award –By Realty Plus” and “Young Entrepreneur Award-By Builders Association of India” Young and energetic, Piyush has an affable personality and comes with the right attitude and demeanor. He lends fresh perspective to the business with his curiosity and eagerness to learn more. Under Piyush’s leadership, the group has completed several landmark projects with great success.

Piyush’s Role Model “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision”.

Mr Nitin Nyati, Harvard Business School Alumnus - Civil Engineer by qualification is a dynamic leader with a vision to succeed and a first-generation

shot on Location

MahaRERA Registration no. P52100000860

NYATI ELYSIA

artistic impression

2 & 3 RHK HOMES KHARADI, PUNE

to carry forward the great legacy that my father has set up”. Under the leadership of Piyush, the company has successfully incorporated several innovative technologies in their recent and ongoing projects. Piyush is dedicated to make Nyati Group an innovative real estate leader keeping in

‘‘

We are creating functionally efficient spaces, best quality landmark buildings to fulfill the

‘‘

entrepreneur with over 21 years of experience and knowledge of the Construction industry. A revered name in the industry and the driving force behind the success story of this flourishing empire - Nyati Group. He has always been his source of inspiration, support, and guide.

Disciplined and spiritually inclined, Mr. Nyati believes that learning and obtaining knowledge is an everlasting process. He credits his achievements to hard work, perseverance, perpetual innovation, and values. “There have been times when the road seemed to have come to an end, but my father was always there to steer me through every difficult path. I cannot imagine life without him”, says Piyush.

Recalling his memorable moment, Piyush says, “Nothing can be more memorable than being honoured with the responsibility of accepting the torch

needs of the society

mind his father’s vision of being the 1st choice A Pioneer in the Real Estate Industry Nyati Group is a value-driven company since its inception in 1997, with a vision to be “The First Choice”.

Passionate about the buyers, the company strives to connect dots between their dreams and offerings, and to realise this vision in their futuristic landmarks. Behind the creation of every landmark building is a vision of Mr. Nyati that has challenged conventional notions of architecture, design, materials and thinking. These structures shape more than just the environments and lifestyles of the people living in them; they have shaped the future blueprints of Pune city.

shot on Location KIWALE, PUNE

Nyati Group has been at the forefront of creating some of the finest residential spaces, IT Parks, commercial complexes, hospitals, hotels & institutional buildings that cater to diverse segments of society and provide value-for -money offerings. Till date, Nyati Group has constructed and delivered over 20 million sq. ft. area all across Pune and various contracting projects across the country.

The iconic buildings of Nyati group that stand out amongst the country’s skyline are IT Buildings of Kanbay Software, Aztec Software, Sofotel Software, Capegimini, and Mahindra British Telecom. Nyati group’s prominent award-winning Industrial Project – Ecorea & Kuroda Electric Pvt. Ltd., Dongkwang Precision India Pvt. Ltd., Q/E/N India Ltd., and Bridgestone India Pvt. Ltd. It has built several contemporary commercial projects namely as Nyati Tiara, Nyati Tech Park, Nyati Emporius, Nyati Unitree, SLK-Amin Properties at Bangalore and Kolhapur, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. at Tezpur, GuwahatiAssam.

The group’s contracting division has built several landmark buildings of reputed educational institutions like IIMM, Pune Law College, Kolhapur Medical College, Delhi Public School,

THE CORINTHIANS RESORT & CLUB OFF NIBM, PUNE

Bishop’s School, Symbiosis University at Kiwale, Lavale (Symbiosis Hospital Project), and Noida along with an ongoing project at Nagpur.

Established in the year 2009, the architectural grandeur of the GrecoMoroccan styled resort-The Corinthians Resort and Club is a bastion of luxury and elegance.

Located in South Pune, the resort blazes like a jewel amidst 25 acres of lush green, tastefully manicured gardens. Widely popular as the 1st choice for the discerning leisure and business enthusiast, the Corinthians boasts of 146 state-of-the-art luxurious rooms, a world class spa, a modern gymnasium, swimming pool, power cricket, cricket ground, futsal ground, tennis courts, rifle shooting & archery, gaming zone and multiple indoor and outdoor facilities providing the ideal relaxation for body and soul .

‘‘

Nyati logo embodies the identity that stands for building relationships

‘‘

sYMBOISIS SKILLS AND OPEN UNIVERSITY

shot on Location

and spreading smiles

SKL SOFTWARE BENGALURU

Nyati Group has diversified into businesses like Real Estate, EPC, Hospitality, Healthcare and IT-ITES and has carved a niche in respective sectors. Continuously innovative in our offerings combined with an emphasis on contemporary architecture, strong project execution and quality construction have helped us transform into a brand to reckon with.

Leading a change Inspired by innovation, Piyush is forging the business with great zeal and vigour. Since his foray into the business, he has expanded operations and also brought in a string of technical advancements into the field of work.

Key initiatives 1. Setting up of ERPs – We all know the importance of having defined processes. Enterprise Resource Planning streamlines systems and adds a modicum of accountability. Piyush took the initiative not only to introduce the ERP model into the business but also successfully execute and help the team members to adapt to the changed processes. This has led to clear accountability and efficient control over the stock (built or sold).

2.Assertive Marketing and Sales – Marketing is the crux of any business.

Piyush has ensured that customer

shot on Location

‘‘

We have transparent,

proactive, assertive and friendly behavior with

‘‘

a win-win approach for customer dealing

interaction in the market is done in a non-traditional yet relevant and realistic way. A special CRM team has been set up for the same. Bringing in such changes has helped the company achieve a sale of 1100 units with 5 back to back launches. In order to achieve this, the group has expanded geographically into the GCC region, making us a global real estate icon.

3. Engineering operations have been introduced by implementing in-process checking, setting up of an in-house QAD (Quality Assurance) department, SOP, scheduling operations to manage the tasks at hand in an efficient manner.

4. A separate planning department has been set up to envisage the blending of every project within the master plan with proper resource allocation for the same.

At Nyati Group, the transformation has begun.

Young leaders like Piyush are driving the change with their fresh ideas and steering the business to newer levels of growth. The result is better processes, improved technology and faster execution to create a brand identity that makes a long-lasting impact in the minds of its customers.

Satisfied Customer, Successful Company Talking about customer’s satisfaction, Piyush says, “Our customers have been our greatest strength.

We have served them with utmost commitment, and in return, they have put in a good word for us and often gone out of the way to promote us” Under his aegis, Nyati’s projects have won several

‘‘

With customer at the core of all its endeavors, every project under the Nyati brand is conceptualized keeping in mind the aspirations of the buyer

‘‘

awards like ‘Value for Money Homes’, ‘AESA President’s Award’, ‘Best Residential Project of the Year’ and ‘Asia Pacific Property Award’. Nyati Group has won India’s “Most trusted brand in Real Estate”. Piyush dedicates his success to experienced professionals for trusting him in implementing the new age ideas. “I will ensure that this award-winning practice continues in our journey ahead,” says Piyush. Piyush’s job comes with more responsibility than authority. With a positive attitude, he faces every challenge head-on and gets the result in favour of the organization. Talking about the team, Piyush says, “Not restricted to any textbook rules have actually worked to my advantage as it encourages and empowers my team to be more creative. No idea is bad. It just needs to be channelized in the right way at the right time”. Each one of the company’s relations speaks of its integrity and long-term commitment that has set them apart from the rest.

Overcoming Challenges Real Estate as a whole has evolved professionally over the last few years. Customers are now expecting much more than just a property. Real estate engineering is not only about engineering but also about creating experiences and giving a lifestyle.

“Spaces touch life in myriad ways” – with this motto, the group overcomes all these challenges by creating structures that suits one and all. The industry faces the challenges in terms of customer’s buying behavior due to job instability, imbalance in rental yield and lack of infrastructure to support the growing population of Pune. Being the pioneers of this industry, Nyati Group has always partnered in shaping the industry at par with international standards and deliver the best to end consumers.

Every project is challenging in its own way. Along with introducing new technologies in projects, the group creates foolproof contingency plans if things don’t work out. “Challenges are a part and parcel of the game, we accept them wholeheartedly and work on finding and providing a solution,” says Piyush.

Believe in Yourself and Take Calculated Risks Piyush’s advice to budding entrepreneurs- “I think I have a long way to go before I can give advice to budding entrepreneurs, but I would definitely say one thing, believe in yourself, take calculated risks, but also seek advice from people who are more experienced than you. Upgrade yourself with new technology, as that is the way forward” Creating A Future driven by Success The group has recently ventured into the ultra-luxurious real estate segment. The company’s contracting division is also expanding across numerous infrastructure domains like railways, roadways, metros, airports, and ports. Progressing forward with a positive approach, Nyati Group will be a brand that will spread its wings across India and the Middle East.

Read it First

Subscribe today Yes I would like to subscribe to Insights Success Magazine.

Global Subscription Date :

Name : Address :

Telephone : Email :

City :

State :

Zip :

Country :

Cheque should be drawn in favour of : INSIGHTS SUCCESS MEDIA AND TECH PVT. LTD.

CORPORATE OFFICE Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. Off No. 513 & 510, 5th Flr, Rainbow Plaza, Shivar Chowk, Pimple Saudagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411017.

Phone - India: 020- 7410079881/ 82/ 83/ 84/ 85 USA: 302-319-9947 Email: info@insightssuccess.in in

SAURABH

KABRA

A DECISIVE LEADER UNLOCKING DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY

SAURABH KABRA DIRECTOR

20

March 2019|

Interview With Insights Success

”

C

hange is the only constant thing in the world” a saying that we often came across and which solely true for the electronics industry. With continuously evolving technology, digital televisions are attracting more and more people. People are now attached to their television more than ever. Indian TV market registered a robust growth in 2018.The year marked some remarkable changes in the television market, both in terms of technology and price. In 2019, Television will be all about personalized technology & experience, wherein everyone is connected to a smart TV. – Brands too have focussed on bringing new smart solutions for Smart TV’s. Truvison, a Europe based consumer electronics & Appliances Company comprises of state of the art Televisions, Home Audio, Air Conditioners, and other Appliances.

In interview with insights success, Saurabh Kabra, Director – Business Operations India at Truvison gave some insightful answers highlighting the influences made by the company in the television industry.

Below are highlights from the interview between Saurabh and Insights Success: 1. Brief us about you and your entrepreneurial journey since the beginning of your career I started my professional journey in the early 20’s and I started drawing up plans for potential businesses. With nurturing the brand right from its seeding, I focused a large amount of my time on product development, quest for introducing global technology & innovation in the Indian Market. I was extremely passionate about designing products that have the end user in mind and address their needs to ensure they have an enhanced user experience. Having said that, my first job was my father’s business and after which I started on my own with Truvison in the Year 2016, and since then, have been going steady and strong.

2. How do you describe yourself in one/two word? Who has been your guide, source of inspiration, support?

Decisive and Confident Person. I believe I get every ounce of my work ethic, drive and entrepreneurial spirit from my father. My father has come from a very humble beginning. He has dedicated his entire life to creating

|March 2019

something of value, toiled hard and long, to get that first break. He has committed to hard work and sometimes a “winning at all costs philosophy. Most importantly he has sacrificed a great deal in his personal life to build a platform from which future generations can launch their own careers. Age is a powerful asset, and so is experience. Along with his guidance, support and techniques, we grow each day.

3. What do you like most about your job? State us about your passions, mission, and goals. What acts as a motivation tool for you?

I love the challenge and the diversity which I have on my table. There’s a lot of responsibility and tons of pressure but I truly thrive on those moments. For me my work is my Passion and not just work. I connect my passion to the work and don’t depend on other people setting the bar. The internal bar becomes the drive. I always state this to my employees “Impress yourself First” and rest will follow.

4. Kindly describe in brief about your company and its services/products.

We are Europe based consumer electronics & appliances company, entered Indian Markets in the Year 2016. The genesis of Truvison & its technology innovation roots is derived from UK. Truvison product range comprises of state of the art Televisions, Home Audio, Air Conditioners, & other Appliances.

Known for quality and design excellence the brand is credited for its distinctive technology products in India.

Truvison is placed on innovation and quality, pioneering the democratization of technology in India – by offering innovations through its product offerings, removing difficulties for large scale implementation of cuttingedge technologies. In a very short span of time the brand has been synonymous with excellence, quality, unmatched reliability and trust.

5. Share your experience and brief us about the tactics and strategies to win people’s trust.

It is your behavior that demonstrates trust. Trust impacts business results, organizational alignment, innovation, staff- engagement, relationships, and stakeholder confidence. For me the only tactic I follow to WIN

21

people’s trust is to “Bring the best of who you are to your work” You operate from a best of self-core with characteristics like kindness, compassion and integrity…rest shall follow. One such experience was when I wanted to close a Mammoth sized business deal with European counterparts. When I had just begun my Journey. The only element that influenced both the parties to sign the paper was ‘Trust’.

6. State us about the most memorable and remarkable moments of your life.

The most remarkable moment for us was successfully achieving the 100cr Turnover in a very short span of time. Also, our brand was recognized among several awards & accolades which boosted our confidence too.

These priceless moments, become memorable.

7. What drives you to become an entrepreneur? Kindly highlight your achievements. Please mention your awards and accreditations, which are notable to you.

My passion towards my work drives me to do more. We have been nominated for the several award categories when it comes to our product range. For me, the biggest achievement like I mentioned earlier is the revenue ladder where we were at the Top fastest among the Young Brands.

8. Kindly tell us about the challenges you took and the risk associated with it and how did you overcome them?

As a startup, we faced dismal lack of recognition. Also, one of the biggest challenges was the renowned competitors. But like they say ‘the bigger the challenge, the bigger the opportunity’. We eventually overcame all these challenges by giving better quality to our customers at affordable prices. We also provided great after salesservice to our customers to win their trust. Intensive marketing was another strategy which helped us narrow the gap.

9. What would you advise to the budding entrepreneurs?

Entrepreneurship is an exciting journey, to say the least. It is filled with constant highs and lows; where one should not be carried away by either. To all the budding entrepreneurs, I would suggest you should always have a vision of what you aim to achieve. Having a passionate team is of utmost importance as; Teamwork plays a major role to run a company successfully. Never ignore the complaints/feedbacks or negative comments, try to strategize and work in a manner to overcome them.

10. Please tell us about your future business plans.

In the near future, I am confident to say we shall be able to compete with China and South East Asian countries, which are known for its Manufacturing. We are focusing on exploring new avenues for growth and shall continue our focus on product development, enhance production processes and after sales-service. Clear focus shall always remain on building latest technologies at most affordable price without compromising on the quality of our products. With several strategic tie ups and partnership in pipeline, we aim to expand the product line across categories, enriching the lives of the consumers and adding a ‘soul’ to our products. We also plan to introduce more categories under mass premium brand which will help us to expand in tier II & III cities. Recently, we have also associated with the well-renowned and trusted online stores, to maximize the outreach for the audience.

Having said that, we aim to be India’s most Trusted Destination for Consumer Durables and probably amongst the top three consumer durable brands.

22

March 2019|

Anish Gupta B Youngest Digital Political Campaigner and Business Consultant

ehind every successful organization, there is an entrepreneur who put-forward his visionary concepts into action. As innovators and creative intellectuals, entrepreneurs serve a wide range of functions in the business environment. Anish Gupta is one such entrepreneur who has judged the perfect nerve of market demand for digital marketing.

He has been consistently providing best-in-class digital marketing solutions through his endeavor: Wise Business Technologies.

Digitalization in India has opened new door for communication and marketing. Established in 2013, Wise Business Technologies is a Digital Media Management and Marketing Consulting Firm. The Company is majorly into Digital Brand Promotions, Social Media Marketing, Political Consulting, and Marketing.

Wise Business Technologies: Fruits of Hard work A dream does not become a reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work to become a successful entrepreneur. Anish founded Wise Business Technologies at a very young age – a space which was an office in the morning and living room at night. This explains that he is a pure breed entrepreneur. Anish has invested every ounce of energy into this startup. Now Wise Business Technologies is a successful company which offers Digital Marketing, Digital Political Campaign Planning and Execution, Web Development, and Online Promotion. It has a passionate and hardworking team that makes full efforts to satisfy the customers and their needs with their work.

Anish Gupta, Founder 24

Anish’s Inspiration Living in a small rented room during his B Tech days, Anish always had a desire to start something on his own. He always idolizes his parents in personal as well as professional life. His parents have always been his source of inspiration, support, and guide.

Talking about family and friends Anish Said, “The support of my family members and friends made me

March 2019|

Digital Political Campaigns No matter what filed it is digital marketing has become the need of the hour today. It’s not always a better candidate who win but the better marketer. Digital marketing and politicians both want the same thing: persuade people to do something.

Convince them to buy a product.

Convince them to vote for a candidate.

Indian youth is tech-savvy and loves to be in connecting with trading topics.

Social media platforms played a pivotal role in deciding which party wins the most seats. Wise Business Technologies is transforming political campaigns with the help of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in a fantastic way. Digital marketing has made it possible for the candidate to reach their target audience at a lesser cost. It is taking over traditional marketing in almost every kind. By running social media campaigns, attractive slogans, videos, video marketing politicians can produce buzz in a particular area.

Digital marketing strategy is now part of the campaign briefs, and politicians/political parties are spending the augmented amount of resources and time and on digital marketing.

Wise Business technologies have enabled politicians and political parties to communicate directly with voters, often bypassing new organizations that have customarily mediated their ideas.

It is creating an online presence on all social media domains with the skilled and creative team. The company is dedicated to promote the party on these |March 2019

platforms. Wise Business technology provides digital marketing for political campaigns where candidates for local, state or national political campaigns need to connect with voters through different digital marketing channels.

Love what you do “The only way to do great work is to love what you do” – Steve Jobs Anish loves what he does. He likes to meet new people, and his profession allows him to reach a different kind of people. Satisfied clients’ is the biggest strategy of the company. This allows the company to take to reference for newer clients and maintain existing relationships. Providing a great customer service has always been both company’s and Anish’s goal.

Innovative Leader, Innovative Company Anish Gupta believes that success is not an event, it is a process. “To finish any great endeavor one must first start.

This may not be the start of a new business but could be the start of a new idea, a new path or a new way”, he added.

“

If you want it to be your show, run it your way

“

so enthusiastic that finally I had my office and they always help me to become successful.”

Anish worked with and hired more than two-hundred Staffing & Recruitment, Sales, Websites development and Digital Marketing Professionals. He Designed, Developed and Sold more than fivehundred websites as a Web Developer.

Under his leadership, the company strategizes to find out various digital techniques to attract clients. The company stresses on high-quality and interactive content that will not only attract an audience but also engage them for a longer period and sustain their presence, across the online platform. To achieve this, they are going beyond texts and creating visually rich and appealing content that will hit the minds and arouse the interest of online visitors.

In this ever-changing, fast-paced culture, the philosophy of continually updating its methodology, technique, and products are helping them stay in demand. With the new-age technology and customer-driven approach, Wise Business Technology continues to remodel and reinvent itself. This approach, in particular, is the driving force behind their growth.

Patience: Key factor which would help achieve goals Anish advices to budding entrepreneurs, “Patience is what allows the fruits of hard work and persistence to flourish. In any startup, one needs to be willing to wait and have the ability to curate opportunity.

Patience will successfully find that winning combination and create history. So, Don’t Give Up!”

25

Interview with Insights Success

UTKARSH BANSAL A Versatile Creative Leader

U

tkarsh Bansal is the Director of Utkarsh India Limited which is a label in the infrastructure domain.

Constant evolution and innovation are the pillars of their sustainability in the ever-growing, competitive Indian infrastructure sector.

In an interview with Insights Success, Utkarsh gave some insightful answers highlighting the influences made by him and the company to take manufacturing industry to next level.

1. Brief us about you and yourentrepreneur journey since the beginning of your career.

I have been working with Utkarsh India since the past 3.5 years. I joined the business immediately after my undergraduate studies in Industrial Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2015.Prior to which had a short stint with Sony Entertainment Corporation America, in their California office, working with them on supply chain and operations management. The experience at Sony helped me a lot since it gave me an idea of corporate culture and various things that go with it. Also during my undergraduate studies, I had brief stints with a few startups across tech and retail sectors, which allowed me to experience the all-around dynamics of running an organization. With Utkarsh I started off with roles in marketing, building our nascent export division, rebranding of Utkarsh India for the PVC division, operations management etc. Post my Masters in Business from the Indian School of Business; I took on an active role as a director of the company. Here my efforts have largely been focused on moving the company from a steel pipes manufacturer to an manufacturer of Engineering products for the infrastructural industry, building a sustainable growth model which will put us on the map as well as allow us to sustain the company for years to come, building long term alliances with suppliers and customers alike, as well as increasing operational efficiency of the company across various spheres.

2. How do you describe yourself in one/two word? Who has been your guide, source of inspiration, support?

I truly believe myself to be Creative – Creativity across

26

various spheres like quick solutions, coming up with modern marketing techniques, approach to the market and consumer behavior, manpower management skills etc.

My Guide and source of support and inspiration has been my father, Mr. Sunil Bansal who is the CMD of Utkarsh India Limited. He has managed to build Utkarsh India from scratch into the enterprise it is today (doing a revenue of more than 1200 crores) in less than 15 years. Moreover he has been able to build an organization with high levels of professionalism, ethicality and corporate governance. Also the way he treats his employees as family is a major learning for me to take the company forward.

3. What do you like most about your job? State us about your passions, mission, and goals. What acts as a motivation tool for you Fortunately, I am a part of a company, which already has all major operational, marketing, financial issues taken care of and specific people responsible for them. My task is to help the company grow, infuse new ideas, new policies, new practices, so that we can make the company more efficient, more sustainable, more profitable and most importantly larger and more diverse than it currently is.

My goal is to make Utkarsh India an INR 5000 cr. Revenue generating enterprise in the next 5 years making it a market leader. Mission is to make Utkarsh India a sustainable organization which can sustain this growth for years to come and be a company that pans across generations. Moreover, our mission is to become a brand that is the go to choice for all infrastructural companies when it comes to engineering goods and is synonymous with quality and reliability so that we can become the backbone of infrastructure in our country.

4. Kindly describe in brief about your company and its services/products.

PDF attached.

Since inception in 1970, we have grown to become one of the leaders in the galvanized steel and PVC segments with an annual turnover of more than INR 650 crore. Our two

March 2019|

Utkarsh Bansal Director

state-of-the-art manufacturing units-Jangalpur, Howrah and Gurap, Hooghly, have helped us to set benchmarks in the MS ERW Black and GI Pipes sector for over 47 years. With the market demands switched to transmission, roads, power, water and railways sectors. We moved in to keep up with ever changing infrastructure demands.

Consistency, reliability and experience have helped us constantly in progress. We brought in improved and modern techniques to increase efficiency, upping our productivity many fold. We have always ensured timely delivery without compromising on the safety of our employee.

We serve the following needs of infrastructure Industry.

• Road safety and Lighting needs for national and stat highway projects

|March 2019

• Power Transmission and Railways Electrification Industry • Water Transportation Industry Plumbing and Building Projects

• Other Structural Needs across industries

5. Share your experience and brief us about the tactics and strategies to win people’s trust.

I think the best strategy to win people’s trust is to practice what you preach and to lead from the front. If people see a leader who is willing to take on any challenge that might come their way and moreover (even if I am unaware of the right answer) never hesitant to express opinions and actually having a positive and considerable contribution to the target of the company, they automatically trust in you. Moreover, it is important to follow what you preach in the sense that we

27

should follow the same set of ideals and rules as we set. Also, involving people in decision making and taking their opinions also helps them trust in you and your thought process.

6. State us your major achievements and your company’s achievements under your leadership. a) Winning WIRC’s Best Brand Award amidst Industry stalwarts. b) Company achieved 35% growth in topline in 17-18 and expected 40% growth in topline in 18-19. c) More than 50% growth in bottom line in both years d) Became the highest supplier of railway electrification structures to the Indian Railways as acknowledged by CORE e) Became the highest manufacturer of poles (both octagonal and steel tubular poles) in India. f) Top 10 manufacturing firms awards g) Expanded our dealer base by 1.5X 7. State us about the most memorable and remarkable moments of your life.

• Closing my first deal • First time I represented Utkarsh India • First time I heard Utkarsh being recognized for the products it makes by a layman, meaning the Brand been made • Our annual meet where we facilitated more than 30 employees who have been with us for more than 20 years and we realized the loyalty and support we have • Winning the Best Brand award.

8. What drives you to become an entrepreneur? Kindly highlight your achievements. Please mention your awards and accreditations, which are notable to you An ability to make a difference in the industry that I am in is the main drive. Being an entrepreneur is of no use if we do not give utmost importance to our employees. He needs to make a name for himself and stand apart from competitions.

28

A healthy company is the best company with utmost efficient employees 9. Kindly tell us about the challenges you took and the risk associated with it and how did you overcome them?

The greatest challenge we have overtaken is the drive to expand into 7 different product verticals within a span of a couple of years and establishing a brand name and increasing quantities rapidly year after year. We are increasing capacity by almost 50% every year, being bullish on market trends in various markets and riding on that to be able to increase quantities. This is a great risk for us as we are expanding rapidly. Moreover considering that our sustainability is our long term goal this is a mammoth challenge.

10. Share your point of view on the current scenario of the industry and its future.

Infra is strong right now. Manufacturing and Infrastructure as sectors has become the highest job creator in the market.

Investors too are keen to invest in this sector as the former glory is being restored rapidly. Utkarsh is one of the main players to accelerate West Bengal’s Industrial drive.

11. What would you advise to the budding entrepreneurs?

Keep your goal clear and do not go a day without working on the same. Be brave to take risk and follow your gut.

Tackle your mistakes with a smile and do not fear to dream big.

12. Please tell us about your future business plans.

Becoming market leaders in all 7 verticals that we are into.

Achieving 5000 crores in the next five years and growing more and more. Getting into manufacturing of other Infrastructural products as well. Building a brand and creating a name in the Industry. Creating a path for PAN India presence. Touching a 10000 figure dealer reach.

March 2019|

Anshul Saxena An Ardent Entrepreneur Creating a Cyber Secure World

L

egends are visionaries; they dream and change the world by persistently working and pushing their limits. In the same way genius, needs no introduction. Despite their uneventful histories, they tend to be victorious. Discipline, selfbelief, and strong determination are some of their captivating traits to accomplish wonders in the long run.

One such success-driven and extra-ordinary entrepreneur is Anshul Saxena, CEO of Halt Dos.com Pvt. Ltd and CTO of AKS IT Services.

Anshul is dedicated to innovate and develop the technologies that solve some of the hardest problems in cyber security space and convert these technologies into products for enterprise around the world.

“I love being able to take the initiative, explore ideas, and empower team members to do the same. It’s especially rewarding when my position allows me to turn those ideas into something that can make a difference for the business, our customers, and our employees”, says Anshul.

A Successful entrepreneurial Journey After completing Bachelor of Engineering from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT) and MS Information Security from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, US, Anshul has worked for wellknown multinational organizations like Amazon and Microsoft.

When Anshul was working with Amazon, he was detecting and mitigating cyber-attack on AWS infrastructure. Learning from this experience, he decided to build security solutions that could counter these attacks by using the best available technologies such as AI and Big Data. Today, HaltDos is India’s first Artificial Intelligence-based Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation solution that provides ultimate cyber security to the nation-critical IT infrastructures. It automatically detects various cyberattacks targeting enterprises and mitigate them in real-time – without requiring any human intervention.

HaltDos is a profitable Indian company developed under Make in India, a type of Swadeshi movement.

The company currently offers its Web Application Firewall and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation solution as a cloud-based SaaS service and hardware appliances for large data centers.

Anshul Saxena, CEO 30

Under the leadership of Anshul, within a short timeframe, HaltDos has quickly gained momentum and

March 2019|

Some Valuable Insights from Anshul's Desk Anshul believes that every individual is unique and carves his own path to success. Perseverance is the first rung in the ladder. Ashish Kumar Saxena (Anshul’s Father) has always been his source of inspiration, support and guide. To do something for your country and never give up are two priceless values taught by his father which always motivates him to do better.

Ashish Kumar Saxena is the Founder and Managing Director of AKS Information Technology Services. The company’s remarkable success reflects recipient of premier training in Sweden, France and USA, his unparalleled experience and discerning approach. He is a proud recipient of Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) for the technological innovation in the Indian Air Force, resulting in saving sizeable foreign exchange for the Government exchequer.

AI-Driven Platform Securing Websites Cyberspace is becoming more complex and there is need of continuous innovation to keep the space secure and resilient to threats. Indigenous solutions, in-house expertise and startup eco-system are the need of hour to reduce dependence on foreign products and solutions for securing critical infrastructure and defence installations.

Established in December 2015, headquartered in Noida, HALT DOS.Com Pvt. Ltd. is an IIT Delhi incubated, DIPP registered Indian IT Security startup that has developed India’s first Distributed Denial of |March 2019

Service (DDoS) mitigation and Web Application Firewall solutions. Ashish Kumar Saxena and Anshul Saxena are the founders of the company.

HaltDos’ mission is to make the IT security simple, effective and affordable to businesses. Way forward, the company is dedicated to delivering leading-edge security that provides peace of mind to an online business with real-time, all the time network and application protection. HaltDos is an artificial intelligence based IT security solution that can automatically detect and accurately mitigate cyberattacks on websites and IT Network in real time. It provides round the clock multi-layered, multi-vector protection against the widest range of attacks without the need of any human intervention. With in-built Load Balancing and SSL acceleration, HaltDos secures websites and enterprise IT networks against data loss, data theft, web-scraping, and website compromise.

Available as a hardware solution for data centers of a large enterprise as well as Software as a Service (SaaS) for the small and medium enterprise, HaltDos provides comprehensive yet affordable security solutions for all.

HaltDos’ SaaS-based solutions are securing websites across the globe

“

If you put all your efforts into solving a problem for the

“

became one of the best real-world use cases of AI enabled-technology. Halt Dos.com Pvt. Ltd has been recognized with several awards and recognitions, which bear testimony to commitment towards the leading-edge IT security innovation.

customers, then success will take care of itself

including US, UK, Europe, South-east Asia, and Japan.

HaltDos’ hardware appliance is global security certified (CC-EAL2+) - highend network security solution which is designed specifically for the high performance IT networks and is being used by Internet Service Providers and BFSI companies such as MTNL, RailTel, MCX, etc.

A Tailored and Unique Approach towards Customers Talking about most memorable and remarkable moments about of life Anshul says, “Our first deployment of our solution at one of the leading government state data center. They had approached us when they were under attack and within minutes of deploying our solution, we were able to secure their network. Not only did we help secure the customer but also prove our worthiness and our ability in detecting and mitigating attacks” Anshul feels that this is one of the most significant milestones, among many others, shaping his journey as an entrepreneur.

Anshul advises to the budding entrepreneur that always love what you do and have a customer-first approach.

If one put all the efforts in solving problems for the customers, then success will take care of itself.

Journey towards Flourishing Future Progressing forward with positive approach, the company is improving logistics by expanding distribution network and creating local offices in other geographies like Singapore. The company has opened an office in USA to cater and North-American market.

In the immediate future, the company plan to expand presence to the APAC and ASEAN region on account of a projected DDoS mitigation market growth of 18% CAGR during the forecast period (2017-2023) in the Asia-Pacific region. Anshul is truly persistent towards making HaltDos the absolute best company it can be in the future

31

Avinash Chandra T Revamping the Digital Experience

he industry is going through a big transition and everything is in a state of flux.

Traditional marketers are trying to come to terms with technology, while technology folks are trying to learn about branding & marketing. But very few are getting it right. Everyone today wants to get into digital marketing, but most are going in blind.

One has to have mastery over all fields- business, strategy, marketing, consumer insights and technology.

One such innovator prominently connecting every dot of the market is Avinash Chandra. He is a branding, integrated and digital marketing consultant having holistic experience in helping companies to generate more revenue through digital marketing.

Avinash is a seasoned entrepreneur who has successfully led business and marketing operations of several large and small American, European, Chinese and Indian brands and startups. In his nineteen years of professional career, he has worked with over hundred brands with a proven track record of building sustainable and profitable businesses. Avinash has effectively stirred diverse brands including Bausch & Lomb, Hanes, Lycra, Coolmax, Phillips and Opple.

In 2015, his passion to motivated him to put together a team of Branding, Technology and Design to start BrandLoom Consulting, a digital branding and marketing company.

Avinash Chandra, ceo 32

About BrandLoom Headquartered in Gurgaon, with offices in Delhi and Pune, BrandLoom is a full-service digital agency associating with clients to drive their business outcomes with business strategy, branding & design, media planning & distribution, influencer marketing and much more. At BrandLoom, employees are the greatest asset. “We’re writers, designers, marketers, entrepreneurs, photographers, and data junkies,” asserts Avinash. Under his aegis, the company offers a variety of services like SEO, content creation and marketing, social media marketing, mobile marketing, ecommerce designing, website development, digital

March 2019|

strategy consulting and so on. In short, BrandLoom is a one-stop solution to all the digital marketing and branding needs.

Cherishing every role, quick learning, and adapting to changes is what made him overcome challenges and achieve milestones.

The company has worked with many Indian and international brands like Valvoline, Medicover, Tata Group, Hero Cycles, Jubilant and many others.

With transparent and ethical methods, the company has delivered proven results to its clientele. These methods are backed by market insights and careful study of customer behavior.

BrandLoom understands that brand building is a long-term process and takes care in building clients’ brand reputation steadily. It ensures that a brand is positioned uniquely and stays relevant with the changing times.

Avinash believes that the best part of his job is learning something new every day. Visibility of results of his work is what drives and motivates him to go beyond. Marketing is his passion and establishing his own business has been inspired by it. To be precise, Avinash is on a mission to expand his wings and quench every need of the customer.

“I think I took more risks than others in my field because I changed industries.

Many people stick to one particular sector, but I worked with diverse industries,” he added further.

|March 2019

“

We live and breathe emerging tech,

“

Meet the Zealous Entrepreneur Establishing a business from scratch was a major challenge for Avinash.

However, in a short time, he managed to make a mark and worked with some of the best-known brands across diverse industries. Avinash is an entrepreneur at heart – adaptable and principled. Person who likes to change the game and challenge the status quo is what describes him the best. Coming across multiple influencers in life such as Dr.Ratan Tata, Prasoon, Suhail and many more, he still believes that his father and his books have been his best friends since childhood. Being an avid reader, Avinash have amassed a wealth of 1000+ titles by various experts. He adds “My father always encouraged me to follow my dreams, and taught me to take thoughtful risks early on in life,”.

Reminiscing the Memorable Times Working with Phillips was one of the most memorable times for Avinash, where he transformed a loss-making portfolio into a profitable one.

Addressing several issues – right from new product development to designing a new marketing campaign and creating a new Go-To-Market approach, he ended up revolutionizing the entire category. Further he added that “Establishing BrandLoom has been the high point of my journey. And I hope there are many more such moments to come.”

and we are always growing

Guiding the Pathseekers Everyone has a dream, but without proper implementation, they cannot be turned to reality. Also remember, there are no shortcuts to success. Avinash advices the budding entrepreneurs to develop sustainable business propositions – select ideas carefully!

“Humans need help with one of thesemoney, love, attention, less stress, less anxiety, less debt & finally easier ways to do things. Consider these areas when looking for ideas.” Adds Avinash.

Treading an Extra Mile The future is going to be very different for marketers. Different media platforms will co-exist, but for customers, they will cease to make a difference. For customers, it has to be a seamless experience and so, the companies must harmoniously utilize all platforms if they want to succeed.

So those who are still stuck with “conventional” and “digital” labels for marketing operations, they have to start adapting to the new trends by accepting that they are seamless.

Avinash aims to explore international markets and create a niche for BrandLoom, overseas. Unable to receive the help when he was a student, he is a strong believer of giving away what he can to the Greenhorn Entrepreneur Community. Avinash says, “I continually give away free advice, life changing books and even digital marketing services packages worth 2-5 Lacs absolutely free, to deserving business ideas, to help them on their way.” Meanwhile on the business front, he is empowering BrandLoom establish a strong presence in branding and consulting space and deliver positive results to its clients with proficiency.

33

How

Technologies are fostering the growth of

Entrepreneurship?

34

March 2019|

Entrepreneurship Insights

E

very day it seems that technologies are pushing the boundaries of what entrepreneurship can deliver to society. From shop owners to venture capitalist, technology is changing the lives of everyone. One way or another, the human race is getting influenced by the technologies to its best.

Entrepreneurship is clearly not a new concept but with the advent of technology, the current approach towards entrepreneurship has shifted significantly over recent years. New-age entrepreneurs are disrupting the traditional ways of doing business by using the latest technologies. Technology-driven entrepreneurship is a sparkplug that ignites the growth of various businesses, individuals and nations.

Here are some of the technologies that are currently fostering the growth of entrepreneurship along with creating new industries.

Analytics Data is the “new air” as ubiquitous as air itself. Business insights derived from data are becoming vital for survival and success in the business world. Nowadays, data volumes are increasing and it has become more complex to optimize digital business decisions. Analytics sector examines all this data and provides actionable insights.

Analytics plays an important role in uncovering new growth opportunities. With the advent of digitalization, there is a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs to embrace data-driven models. Entrepreneurs can use this data as the foundation of new business ventures, marketing, and for many other purposes.

AR & VR In the past few years, technologies like AR & VR have significantly narrowed down the difference between the real and virtual world. AR & VR technology are not only used to enrich the gaming experience but are also applicable in day-to-day life. From long time, Augmented Reality has been used by the armed forces. This technology that has been overlaying digital elements has now paved its way into various sectors such as real estate, travel and tourism It also enhances the whole smartphone experience in the process.

The success of ‘Pokémon go’ catches the attention of many developers and entrepreneurs who are willing to create newer games. These technologies are creating opportunities for entrepreneurs and developers to innovate AR & VR based startups thereby fostering the growth of new startups and entrepreneurs in AR & VR space.

Artificial Intelligence AI and Machine learning have already made their way into the business world. More and more companies are introducing established AI solutions like chatbots and virtual assistants into their business models. Be it Apple’s Siri, Tesla’s self-driving car or Google assistance, AI and machine learning are transforming the lives of every individual. Leveraging artificial intelligence in business models can give a competitive edge to any business venture.

The development in the AI sector is mostly driven by hundreds of entrepreneurs and startups. They are dedicated to exploring the true potential of AI. This surely fosters the growth of entrepreneurship in the business world.

Internet of things IoT emerges as one of the revolutionary technological developments in today’s world. From smartphones and wearable technologies to household appliances and vehicles, it has changed the norms of connectivity to communicate or exchange data.

From agriculture, manufacturing, engineering to healthcare space, entrepreneurs who adopt IoT get huge competitive advantage compared to the one who don’t. According to independent reports, there will be more than 55 billion IoT devices by 2025 and entrepreneurs surely take benefit of this technology to create their own ventures.

Drones We live in an era where en rely different & probably even bigger transporta on revolu on is happening through the discovery of drones. Today, drones are mostly used for the transporta on of goods across the world.

|March 2019

35

In Conversation H with Anuj Kumar a Data Enthusiast and Entrepreneur with the Vision to Democratize Analytics

e has been active in the data analytics space for over a decade now, but his hunger to contribute is as unstoppable as ever - meet Anuj Kumar, the Co-founder and Chief Architect of FORMCEPT - an innovative data analytics company. Together with his co-founder Suresh Srinivasan, Anuj has built a first-of-its-kind Augmented Data Management Platform ‘MECBot.’ Here, Anuj tells us his inspiring story - his love for data, his drive for innovation, his vision to democratize analytics and his personal journey through the roller-coaster ride of entrepreneurship.

A Bend in the Road: Taking the Plunge into Entrepreneurship Anuj's adventure in data analytics kickstarted in Bangalore back in 2007 when he joined Oracle R&D as a developer. Early in his career, he got the opportunity to get involved in the end-to-end process of product building and implementation. “This gave me a good understanding of designing and implementing a large scale enterprise application,” says Anuj.

Later, he moved to the Data Quality team of Oracle Data Integration product where he crossed paths with Suresh Srinivasan, who was then leading the Data Integration team at Oracle. Soon, the innovator in Anuj began to ask questions: Why was he solving small-scale problems that had only suboptimal impact on enterprises? He then quit his job to understand the problem at the grass-root level. “It struck me that the need of the hour is to come up with a product that can help not only large corporates but also SMEs. It became my vision to democratize performanceoriented analytics.”

Inception of FORMCEPT: The Labour of Love

Anuj Kumar, Entrepreneur 38

Anuj co-founded FORMCEPT with Suresh with the objective of empowering 21st-century leaders to take mission-critical decisions. So, how did they get cracking at it? “Our flagship product is MECBot - an Augmented Data Management Platform for RealTime Analytics. It is an open cognitive platform that structures unstructured data and marries it with

March 2019|

Anuj points out how finding a match in Suresh was crucial for FORMCEPT to happen. But even so, did entrepreneurship come easy? “No,” Anuj says pensively, “Not really. The first few years were really challenging - I had worked for only 4 years and had minimal savings.”

From Shared Vision to Joint Leadership Anuj observes that their association with NASSCOM, IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore have been pivotal. The co-founders attended various events to create visibility for FORMCEPT. Anuj himself has spoken at TEDx, IN/Clojure Conference and multiple ACM conferences.

Recently, the company was awarded as the “Best AI Company of the Year2019” at the Global AI Awards organized by AICRA. FORMCEPT was also listed as one of the top 10 Indian AI Startups to watch out for in 2018.

Perspectives on Data Analytics Industry When asked about the pain-points of the industry, Anuj doesn’t skip a beat.

“Currently, the industry takes a Data First approach with a very high dependence on the Traditional Data

|March 2019

Team. This process requires translating the business-first problem to a datafirst problem that the Data Team can understand, who then considers it a technology-first problem. This makes costs spin out of control, even as significant delays creep in.”

Anuj shares that in the future, enterprises will move away from dealing with day-to-day technology challenges on-premise and adopt cloud-based analytics services to run them on demand as and when required with pay-as-you-go model.

Staying Rooted: The Pillars of Strength As the conversation rolls, one question looms - what keeps Anuj motivated?

Anuj is unabashedly grateful to his mentors. “During my primary days, I was taught by Ma’am Daya Joshi - I attribute to her my ability to learn.

Among my college instructors, Prof.

B.D. Chaudhary is my mentor till date.

I did my thesis under him and ideas from that thesis are still ingrained

“

I am passionate about any technology that enables human-computer interac on

within MECBot. Last but not the least, Suresh, my co-founder, is my everyday dose of inspiration. ” What about relationships and hobbies?

“My family and friends empower me with the strength to wake up every day and take up my next challenge. Also, learning keeps me motivated,” he says.

“In 2018, I authored a book on Microservices with Clojure. I am keen to contribute more prolifically in this space.”

Future with FORMCEPT Anuj’s company now seeks to amplify customer traction and are simultaneously focusing on product innovation to stay ahead of the curve.

“In the next three years, we see ourselves as a market leader in the Augmented Data Management domain in Indian and U.S. markets,” he says.

Words of Wisdom If budding entrepreneurs were to take a leaf out of Anuj’s life, what would it be? “Keep learning,” Anuj says, “Building enterprise grade product from India is a challenge and also an opportunity. It is an opportunity because you can harden the product with Indian customers and then go global. It is challenging because getting the right team is difficult. Don’t forget to stay fit. It is a marathon.”

“

structured data. This unified data is stored as an enterprise graph and is transformed into a flattened view for downstream analytics. Finally, our powerful AI algorithms and pre-built ML/DL/NLP models such as Customer Segmentation, Loyalty, etc. deliver real-time actionable insights to our customers.”

39

Mahesh Garg T A Tech Wizard with a Digital Wand in Hand

echnical skills are important for various reasons. These skills help in work efficiency, boosting confidence, and for a leader, they aid in adding more values to the employees. Leaders with technical skills are often more confident when leading different industries that who do not. They can even mentor the employees under them, which can be beneficial in multitasking in a variety of challenging and complex role. Moreover, by using sufficient technical ability, they will be able to speak to colleagues and clients with more confidence.

One such technical yet friendly and caring leader in the realm of IT is Mahesh Garg. He has over fourteen years of Software Development, Management, and Business Analysis experience in the Manufacturing, Infrastructural, Retail, Financial and Telecom sectors specializing in real-time Web Services, Winforms, GUI, Multithreading, Algorithmic Trading, Business process management, InterProcess Communications, and MS Office automation. Furthermore, he has experience in bespoke software development as well as website development and E-commerce.

Leaving a good high pay job and starting his own business has always been the biggest risk that Mahesh ever took. He received support and inspiration at various stages of life. In the early stages, his parents and family guided him, taking good care of him every time. Afterward, when starting his career, he was lucky to get good managers that inspired him with their dedication. As a result, today, he is selfmotivated and involves himself in meditation, which empowers him with great depth and understanding.

Even today, when he meets various people from different organizations, he gets inspiration from them and does not hesitate to support them.

Mahesh Garg, CEO 40

Industry oriented Mindset Mahesh treats every single day as unique and no two days are same at work for him. He keeps his keen eyes constantly on the industry and its changes, clients and, customer perceptions keep him on his

March 2019|

About the Company Mahesh is the CEO of FLYONIT, an Australian owned and operated firm with its head offices in Melbourne, Victoria. It is recognized as an industry leader in the development and delivery of specialized IT solutions. It is a onestop-shop solution for the IT-related infrastructure needs.

FLYONIT offers a wide-range of IT services and provides excellent technology solutions that cover web design, mobile applications, network services, cloud computing, cloud-based or on-premise bespoke enterprise solutions, corporate branding, mobile developments, IT infrastructure solutions, business consultancy, and many more. Its goal as an organization is to provide complete, customized solutions and satisfactory project implementation in the most costeffective ways and in the best time possible.

Team FLYONIT comprises technical personnel, having the right expertise and several years of experience in the IT field. This ensures that the client needs are dealt with in the best possible way. It handles projects for individual clients, councils and government, educational institutes, Australian universities, and other private sectors. It has completed a long history of satisfactory projects. |March 2019

Some of FLYONIT’s esteemed customers are: - Murdoch Children Research Institute - Consulate General of India - South Australia Tourism Corporation - Bureau of Metrology Australia Customer-oriented Approach FLYONIT stands on the three robust pillars of honesty, transparency and adding value. It believes that client’s success is their way of success. It always makes sure to put a smile on the faces of its clients. Mahesh states, “We always look forward to working on new projects as we strive to maintain long-term relationships. We believe that there is always an amazing amount to be learned by working alongside people in a “real-world”.

He further adds, “No matter how small or big our client’s enterprise is, we believe in working with you. We will see you through from the beginning until implementation, and we will share the same camaraderie and attention to your needs”.

Splashing Success Colors on the World FLYONIT has been in operation for more than eight years. It started as a

“

Our focus is con nuous improvements and constant innova on and I tend to create the culture within the company as well

“

toes. He has a unique vision for the latest technology and innovative trends and keeps abreast with them at regular times. His mission is to empower people with technology so as to every single person in the world can use technology to their advantage. To add more, he wants to take his company FLYONIT at par with the international standards and compete with the global companies.

home-based business and today it is spread across Australia and India. It has a customer based in Australia, New Zealand, UK, USA, Taiwan, and South Africa. It started with web development services and now provides various services across different areas of technology.

Consequently, the company has been nominated for several local business awards because of its innovative solutions. It has received the following: • Leaders in Website Design Solutions 2018 – Global Business Insight Awards 2018 • Finalist for the UP 2014 - CLOUD AWARDS • SI - start-up of the year 2014 Mobile E-commerce • Finalist 2013, 2012 and 2011 Wyndham Business Awards Future Prospects IT industry is very dynamic and it changes with every passing second.

The industry is going through massive transformation and decentralization of information. Under Mahesh's leadership, the company will continue to strengthen its IT solutions and its delivery of the utmost international standard services. In addition, Mahesh advises budding entrepreneurs, “Budding entrepreneurs must go towards for their passion and have fun in what they do”. He is further looking to open the company's, Sydney and USA offices in the forthcoming years.

Mahesh and his company both are evolving every day and are seeking to enter the enterprise market in the near future.

41

Narayan Neelakantan A Technocrat in the Cyber Security Space

I

nnovation is one of the most vital traits that have the potential to shape the destiny of any person.

Although every entrepreneur has different goals; they all operate under the same principle - to transform ideas into reality. “I am Inquisitive and innovative with a quest for excellence in whatever I do”, says Narayan Neelakantan, Co-founder and CEO of Block Armour. Passion for technology and a will to overcome challenges drives Narayan to become an entrepreneur in the cyber security space.

In this digitally connected world, serious data breaches, major attacks, and vulnerabilities continue to plague enterprises across numerous industry sectors. The challenges are getting bigger, bolder and more complex while the cost to secure assets continues to escalate. With a vision to build a NextGeneration cyber-security product which would enable organizations to defend against sophisticated cyber-attacks, Narayan formed Block Armour with his close associates.

Making A Splash in the Business World Narayan started his career in designing & building Networks and Data Centers. Later, he joined the National Stock Exchange, the third largest stock exchange in the world in terms of volumes. During his sixteen year stint there, he held multiple positions and designed & deployed systems, of which several deployments were the first of its kind in the country and at par with international standards. “I built highperformance teams and together we executed several cutting-edge projects and mission-critical deployments”, says Narayan.

Narayan Neelakantan, Co-founder & CEO 44

Cyber Security space is one of the fast-growing markets in the world and provides tremendous opportunity for innovation. “My tryst with blockchain technology, while I was heading the IT Risk and cyber security vertical at NSE excited me enough to take the decision of becoming an entrepreneur”, asserts Narayan. He started Block Armour with the vision to build an innovative product in the cyber security domain using next-gen technology. Later he co-founded another company Blockchain Worx, with the objective of building blockchain products for various use cases ranging from Fintech to Supply Chain and Retail. “It has been a great journey so far and I am focusing my energy now, on growing both these companies”, says Narayan.

March 2019|

Narayan is always passionate about building cutting-edge technology products which provide significant business value to customers, highperformance teams, & high growth and sustainable organizations.

“I feel motivated when I see my company providing customer value through its products and solutions”, Says Narayan.

Transforming Cyber Security with the Zero Trust Approach Block Armour is a Mumbai and Singapore based startup, focused on harnessing the potential of emerging technologies to build next-gen cyber security products. The company has developed Secure Shield Architecture (SSA), which allows organizations to secure their critical enterprise systems and IOT communication from next-gen cyber-attacks. SSA is based on the zero-trust model allowing only authenticated and authorized users and devices to see and access systems. The company has significantly enhanced the authentication and authorization process by using digital identities which are difficult to spoof and impersonate.

Additionally, the company records the logs on the blockchain making it immutable and tamper-proof giving the customer complete visibility of

|March 2019

potential attacks. The secure shield architecture provides holistic and scalable security and has the capability to secure systems and devices across enterprise, cloud, and IoT using a single platform.

A Successful Entrepreneurial Journey In establishing a company, one can face a lot of difficulties. It is not an easy decision to quit a high-flying career and start all over again. The biggest risk of course is “what if things don’t work out”. The best way to mitigate this risk is to plan well and have an open and practical approach and also have the courage to change course early on, if things are not working out. Similarly, Narayan surpassed all these challenges with proficiency and established a successful venture.

Talking about friends and family Narayan says, “My family and friends play a very important role in my life.

Because, you need a lot of support especially when the going gets tough, not just financially but emotionally as well” Memorizing the cherished moments of his life, Narayan says –“Being recognized as one of the most innovative companies globally was a

“

I have always had a penchant for Technology, primarily because the possibili es which technology creates, amazes me even today

“

Some Valuable Insights from Narayan’s Desk Narayan feels privileged to be surrounded and mentored by seniors during his corporate journey. This has positively impacted and shaped his professional as well as personal journey. “I believe it’s important to be a person of strong values and high integrity. I like to lead by example and am confident that the rest will follow”, says Narayan. He considers Richard Branson as a key source of inspiration.

very memorable moment. The other memory which I deeply cherish was meeting my better half and I could not have achieved this success without her support”.

Under the leadership of Narayan, the company has achieved various milestones in this sector. Accenture named Block Armour among the Top 25 cyber security innovations globally for 2018. The Company was selected

by Airbus after evaluating more than 150 companies to be part of their prestigious ‘acceleration program’.

The company has been rated consecutively among the top 20 cyber security startups for 2017 and 2018.

ABI research named it among the top 15 innovators globally in the blockchain cyber security space.

Be Innovative and Don’t Fear Failures If budding entrepreneurs were to take a leaf out of Narayan’s life, what would it? “Be innovative and don’t fear failure” “There are enough instances where it has been proven beyond doubt that ‘Fortune favors the brave’. The other important point is to be patient and persistent, because every product or solution takes a finite amount of time before it gains acceptance among customers”, Says Narayan. “Be open to criticism because many a times it helps one see things in a different perspective and helps to make better decisions,” He adds.

The road towards a Better Future Narayan is now focusing on the growth of both of his companies, Block Armour and Blockchain Worx to serve customers in global markets. “Our approach has always been to partner with OEM’s, System Integrators etc. to scale quickly and delivers better value to our customers”, He says.

45

Rajeev Kumar W A Doyen in the Field of VFX and Animation

hether it’s a hand-drawn masterpiece of the past or a modern CGI film, the art of VFX has been charming us with captivating characters, stories, and worlds. The world of VFX is a fascinating one, serving both as sponge and mirror to the broader world of technological and social change. Studios across the countries are looking for the best VFX companies to create their next big project. Drishyam vfx is a world-class VFX facility and post production studio catering to every creative need across the markets of TV, Film, digital, advertising and government projects. What started off as a team of 20 in 500 sq. ft. is now expanded into 60 to120 people spread across 3200 sq. ft., where Rajeev Kumar heads Drishyam VFX as COO. Rajeev’s burning desire to excel each day by never failing a delivery deadline, constant endeavor at expanding the vision of Drishyam VFX with grit and determination has made him a rising star of the industry.

The studio stands at the forefront of an extremely dynamic world of VFX execution, owing to the specialization in highly complex visual effects, animation, CG, matte painting, match-move, roto and paint. It provides visual effects and 3D computer animation solutions for films, broadcast television, medical, architectural visualizations, game movies, corporate videos and explainer videos.

Journey to Become Renowned VFX artist

Rajeev Kumar, COO 46

With over ten years of versatility with around ninety films, Rajeev is one of the Founder Members of Drishyam vfx and is the youngest entrepreneur in VFX industry. After pursuing a Diploma in Mass Communication with a specialization in Film Editing into the Radio, Films and Television stream of the course, he began his career with Anibrain, Pune as a VFX Coordinator. His experience and exposure got him the coveted position of VFX Line Producer at Prime Focus. He later switched to Prana Studios where he worked as a Production Manager. With each position, he kept on transforming himself to become a March 2019|

Canvas of Films under Drishyam VFX Under the guidance of Rajeev, Drishyam VFX has made its contribution in several films such as UTV Motion Picture ‘Fitoor’ which was released in the year 2016.

Followed by Endemol India’s Te3n, Nishikant Kamat ‘Madaari’, Ashutosh Gowariker’ Mohenjodaro’ Bhushan Kumar’s Tum Bin 2, Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani2, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Rangoon, Telegu film 'Nene Raju Nene Mantri’ directed by Teja, Hansal Mehta’s Omerta, Anubhav Sinha’s “Mulk”, Manav Bhalla’s (Sony Pictures) Lashtam Pashtam, Sriram Raghavan’s Andhadhun, Amit Sharma’s (Junglee

|March 2019

Pictures) ‘Badhai ho’ and recently Kamal Jain’s Manikarnika to name few of them. It is also associated with leading TV series and Web series for production houses like Colors TV, Zee Entertainment, Star Plus, Hotstar, Eros Now, ALT Balaji, Zee5, Netflix, Jio Studios and Times Internet for the entire post production work.

Talking about the company Rajeev says, “Drishyam VFX delivers the most

“

“

valuable contributor. With his exclusive niche over Bollywood projects, he also dealt with Hollywood projects such as Imperium, Ghost of War, X-Men, Monkey King and Asura with equal passion and fervor.

At Drishyam, we turn fantasy into reality

eye-catching series in world cinema and offers proficiency across all kinds of effects, unpaid to the combination of a team of highly skilled professionals, the latest tools and so on.”

The Technical Strength of the Team Drishyam VFX’s technical team size is more than 120 artists which boast a dynamic mix of industry veterans coupled with fresh talent. The company offers services from Prep work (roto, paint, chroma keying) to VFX Compositing, cosmetic fixes, 2D to 3D conversion, 3D real estate walkthroughs and 3D CGI services (background modeling, char modeling, texturing, animation, lighting, rigging and rendering). Drishyam VFX pioneers in production management and client servicing for the quality output at the affordable prices.

Special particle effects (dynamics) are the forte, such as fire, water, smoke,

47

fog, snow, explosions, blood, dust and debris simulations.

The studio is well-equipped with technically advanced storage facility that has the capacity to work on multiple visual effects Film projects, TV Commercials and AR & VR projects at the same time with high data confidentiality. The data center comprises of 4200 cores of rendering power with an estimated 8.3 THz of computing power and is also authorized license holder of Foundry, Autodesk, Adobe and Windows.

believe that the tiger in the movie ‘Life of Pi’ is not a real tiger but a digital one”, says Rajeev.

“We are increasingly seeing more of the global animation, VFX and games production taking place in a globally distributed mode. Production work is becoming global with tax incentives, regional low labor costs and lower computing costs, which put pressure on companies to reduce costs and set up facilities in tax advantaged or lowcost regions”, says Rajeev.

What’s So Unique?

The Road Ahead: Progress towards Perfection Drishyam VFX has done in-house films as well as films which are not being produced by Drishyam. Technology plays a vital role in making the impossible things looks possible. Modern technologies are bringing imagination to life and give perspective to the entire system of VFX. A visual effect combines existing footage with computer generated imaginary to create realistic scenes. Common uses include sky replacement, logo removal and including environmental effects, such as snow, fire, smoke and lightning.

Drishyam VFX has made its mark especially in particle stimulation like water, snow and fire. In the films like Mohenjodaro it has created the whole water sequences through the help of CG. Drishyam VFX being the top 10 VFX company offering global, end-to-end services and technology. It enables the worldwide market for professionally visual effect work. The crucial planning to execute the VFX work is done in advance. It has become a bigger part of the creative process with talented concept artists, creative designers and VFX supervisors.

Drishyam VFX aims to work for all the possible verticals of visual effects from films to OTT platforms and thrives to be in a fast changing environment where there’s business growth. “The future of the industry will always be uncertain, shaky, and scary at times. By the same token that we have no idea what is coming, it is exciting to know what is possible and to dream of what will be created and what we can create”, he says “The whole concept of perceiving VFX is changing with the emerging digital markets. I always believed that transparency with clients has to be 100%, it brings about nuances and clarity within shots and the script. VFX is no more swarming, it’s more of a creative field and one needs to be particular in ascertaining budgets and time to it,” asserts Rajeev Kumar.

Rajeev’s View on Emerging Market The demand for animation, VFX and gaming has expanded with the increase of targeted broadcasting hours by cable and satellite TV, availability of low cost internet access, penetration of mobile devices along with the growing popularity of streaming video.

“Hollywood movies go all over the world with so much CG and special effects because of fantasy. It is difficult to

48

March 2019|

Words of Wisdom from

Entrepreneurs Here are the 'Piece of Advices' from some of the most Successful Young and Dynamic Entrepreneurs, Leaders and Professionals.

Let's take a look at some of these ambitious youngsters.

• Age

24

• Founder & CEO

OYO Rooms

Farrhad Acidwalla Net Worth – Rs. 280 Million “Taking initiative is the most important step, so long as it is backed by hard-work and dedication.”

• Age

33

• Co-founder & CEO

OLA Cabs

50

Ritesh Agarwal Net Worth – Rs. 2600 crore “Start Small, Nail it, and Then Make it Big.”

• Age • Founder

23

Rockstah Media and CYBERNETIV DIGITAL, Entrepreneur, Investor and TEDx Speaker

Bhavish Aggarwal Net Worth- Rs. 3,900 crore “It is not about the ideas. It's about making ideas happen.”

March 2019|

Inspirational Bits

• Age

Deepinder Goyal Net Worth- Rs. 1,000 crore “Do not think about money and raising funds upfront but create a valuable product.”

• Age

32

• Co-Founder

Swiggy

• Founder & CEO

Zomato

Sriharsha Majety Net Worth- 1,300 crore “We pick only ventures with a strong technology infrastructure to add our platform”

• Age

Kunal Bahl Net Worth- $25Million “Scale is important for a startup. Think big, but take one day at a time.”

• Age

34

39

• Founder & CEO

Zerodha

35

• Founder & CEO

Snapdeal

Nitin Kamath Net Worth- Rs. 8,600 crore “Do not chase money, let it oat towards you!”

- Shruti Jambhale

|March 2019

51

A Rajesh Doshi Redefining Real Estate, One Home at a Time

leader is the one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. This statement stands true for Mr. Rajesh Doshi, Managing Director & CEO of Acme Group and Joint Treasurer – NAREDCO, West. Holding a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of San Diego, USA and managing products over a decade in the Silicon Valley, he has gathered fifteen years of experience and decided to deploy his global perspective to the family business. He has and continues to be instrumental in implementing internationally practiced standards in the industry. He has adopted innovative and modern construction technology, processes and expertise, focusing on sourcing the finest quality components and carrying out stringent quality standards so that the customers can enjoy an excellent lifestyle.

While reinforcing the culture of values, ethics, and trust that Acme has developed over decades, Mr. Rajesh Doshi’s mission for Acme is to attain a position of eminence in the real estate development industry. He has dedicated his efforts towards delighting stakeholders and creating an excellent organization, based on the tenets of total transparency, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility.

Addressing the group and him as one entity he asserts, “We are driven by just one vision-To spread happinessto rise above the average, and go beyond the ordinary in creating iconic structures that enhance the overall quality of life. Since 1976, we have committed ourselves to preserve happiness”.

The Acme Group

Rajesh Doshi, MD & CEO 54

In the wake of urbanization, Mumbai was poised for a giant leap towards a new economic breakthrough. It was 1976, when Acme laid its foundation stone with a vision of redefining Mumbai’s skyline with a hose of iconic yet sustainable developments including a dynamic mix of Residential, Commercial, Retail, Redevelopment and SRA projects.

March 2019|

The group has come a long way since then and pays its gratitude to Lord Ganesha, the bestower of boons, the remover of obstacles and the one who everyone worships at the start of all auspicious things, in steering the Acme Group towards success and fulfillment.

From building four-storey homes to designing and executing minitownships with over a thousand flats, the journey for the group has been an arduous yet satisfying one. While reading this, around eight million square feet are under various stages of construction between five live projects across the city.

Ongoing Projects · Acme Boulevard in Andheri East, one of Acme Group’s flagship projects boasting a massive 5 lac+ square feet of development, promises to pamper its residents by taking luxury to the next level. · Acme Ozone (Thane), is located off Ghodbunder Road at one of the most sought-after locations off Pokhran Road no. 2. The development comprises of 10 towers of 27 storeys and covers over 14 acres of land. The locale provides fabulous connectivity to the central as

|March 2019

well as western suburbs of Mumbai. · Oasis (Kandivali East,) Privy to the city, is a place that leaves little to be accomplished and very little to be desired. It’s imposing multi-storey towers have 2, 2½ & 3 BHK residences with picturesque view of the surrounding greens. Replete with 30+ amenities, it has unmatched connectivity to the W.E.H, railway station, malls, restaurants and other social infrastructure. · Acme Avenue (Kandivali West) Acme Avenue is an exclusive gated community taking shape in one of the most sought after residential destination of Charkop, Kandivali- West. Acme Avenue redefines the concept of future living. · Stadium View (Andheri West) is a multi-storey tower with 2 BHK residences encompassing modern lifestyle amenities.

“

We are geared to meet and exceed the new demands of a global ci zen in terms of not only design, ameni es, and quality but also in terms of transparency, trust and customer experience in every transac on

“

As the old adage says, “A house is built by hands, but a home is built by hearts”, the group has invested the last four decades in fulfilling their promise of ‘housing happiness’ across Mumbai city. Over the years, the team and the projects have grown bigger with standards rising each time.

Consequently, each Acme homeowner has a happy story to tell.

In its legendary expedition of over 4 decades, the group has scaled up its construction sites in size and volume.

The Mumbai skyline has almost a hundred ACME landmarks dotted across its map.

The Acme parivaar is growing, with over 5,000 families residing in buildings and mini-townships constructed by the group, over a span of over four decades.

Their search for a ‘home’ has ended in an Acme apartment. Acme considers these families as the true brand ambassadors of the group and stand witness to its credibility and commitment.

Mr. Rajesh Doshi continues to play an important role in the changed skyline of Mumbai and has made Acme a prominent name in the area of real estate.

Change has been a persistent and fundamental part of its journey.

Future Skylines In addition to the current on-going projects, Mr. Rajesh Doshi intends to spread the wings and services of Acme Group to the affordable housing sector.

He further plans to initiate construction of townships projects in diverse areas like Ahmedabad, Nasik, and Pune.

55

Winning the war for talent with technology tools

T

he National Higher Education Commission, in its report has estimated that the average age of population in India by 2020 would be 29 years.

This makes us the youngest future workforce in the world.

However this impressive statistic will not be enough to capture the attention of the world. If we really want to shine in the global job market, companies in India will have to shift their focus from filling jobs to cultivating careers.

Organisations will have to use talent-centric tools and technologies to win the war for talent and shape future careers. Usage of innovative technologies will enable staffing firms and talent acquisition managers to dramatically improve their interaction with the candidates.

Staffing firms that will excel in attracting, retaining and nurturing talent with the use of latest technologies will outperform others.

Automating the recruiting process creates a winning edge for companies and candidates alike. On one hand, it reduces the effort to attract, recruit and retain talent for the recruiting organisation. And on the other hand, both, recruiters and recruits appreciate the usage of technology that enhances their engagement levels and takes away the load of mundane hiring tasks.

Recently there has been an increase in the usage of technology even in high-touch recruiting models.

Technology usage has enabled a staffing team to capture the candidate profile in a number of ways: through chatbot conversations, by checking person’s online profile, or through video interviews. What is important is to store and

56

Kapil Sharma

Chief Sales Officer

March 2019|

CXO Standpoint

Kapil Sharma is Chief Sales Officer – International Business at

Collabera. Kapil is an industry renowned and a prominent leader in the IT staffing industry and has been in driving strategy, business

About the Author

innovation, and client relationships globally.

Kapil brings in a rich experience in Account management, Client

Servicing, People Management, Strategic Sales & Marketing, Sales Force Development & enablement, P& L Management, Business

& Corporate Strategy, Training & Retention, Contract Negotiations and Brand Management.

Kapil has played a strategic role in building & expanding Collabera's International operations across various geographies

and has been instrumental in setting up operations in countries like Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, & Australia in APAC, UK,

Ireland, Netherlands, Romania and Poland in the European region and Canada in the North America. Kapil's firm belief in a holistic approach towards focus on strategic client relationships, have

resulted in several global recognitions for Collabera across International Markets.

Kapil, with his diverse experience with innovative staffing models,

strategic planning, cross-border talent acquisition and bringing innovations in hiring and sourcing techniques, has been able to add tremendous value to the customers globally.

|March 2019

57

reuse this useful information in future in a quick and easy way. This can be achieved through smart usage of technology in recruitment.

Let us see how we can use technology to enhance talent acquisition experience: Robust database You would agree that direct sourcing is a huge threat and staffing firms must always have a better candidate database than their customers. Candidate data quality and completeness of information are of paramount importance.

This helps staffing firms to fill positions faster directly from the database.

An automated process to update critical data elements such as work history, contact information etc adds immense value to the direct recruiting process. Staffing firms are increasingly investing in technologically to create and update superior database to confidently engage niche talent and provide better candidates to client organisations.

Talent relationship management (TRM) tools TRM tools give you visibility into newer aspects of candidates that are not available in their resume or cannot be revealed during an interview. Things like whether they viewed a job posting or started but didn’t finish an online application etc can be obtained through TRM tools. These may look trivial information but it comes in very handy to convert interested job seekers into candidates.

Video based interview tools Remote work and telecommuting have become more commonplace these days in the staffing industry where candidates do not want to come into the branch for an inperson interview. Video chat, video conferencing, and video interviewing are useful tools frequently used by recruiters.

Companies are also investing in gamification and predictive hiring tools. These tools help to confirm candidate skills and fit. These online assessment tools are more fun than the traditional personal interview technique. Most of the staffing firms also believe they are more accurate than the traditional candidate assessment methods.

58

Social media recruitment Companies believe that they should communicate with candidates based on the candidate’s preferred communication method. These days the variety of communication methods used by the millennials is mindbending: smart phone, voicemail, email, text, instant messaging, LinkedIn direct message, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and many others. The social recruiting platforms must be integrated with the recruiter's staffing software so he can manage all communications in an integrated manner. It looks like the trend of social recruiting will grow even further in future, making it imperative for staffing professionals to capitalize on this trend to the best of their abilities.

Applying AI and machine learning in recruitment No conversation on technology would be complete without addressing the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. These technologies are poised to immensely benefit staffing firms to improve the talent experience and increase recruiter efficiency. These technologies will improve candidate search results and match accuracy that will enable staffing firms to find a better fit. The new gen technologies will also offload work from the recruiting firm such as conducting the initial screening and establishing an interview time.

Mobile recruitment Smart phones are increasingly used for searching the web.

This makes it imperative for staffing professionals to use mobile devices to stay in touch with candidates. Career websites and recruitment software will have to be build in a way that they are mobile compatible.

While the future of recruiting looks full of usage of new gen technologies, it is important to stress on the fact that a winning talent acquisition strategy will have to be the one which is balanced. Personalised interactions and learnings will have to be blended well with digital technology in order to fulfil different recruitment objectives. Machine interaction is transactional. Personal interaction can be transformational. Responsible organisations and smart recruiters will have to adopt a blended approach to win the war for talent.

March 2019|

Rajiv Sharma “

A Perseverant Leader Benchmarking the Information Technology

F

aith and perseverance are big in business and one must have both virtues to survive and grow. If you don’t change as per the market, you don’t grow. The essence has been constant improvement and change. Continually learn and deliver” This is the mantra which drives one ahead and makes one a successful leader. A true leader is always ready to face the challenges which life throws at every step. One man who abides by this mantra is Rajiv Sharma, CEO at Virgosys Software Pvt. Ltd. Rajiv is a persuaded visionary who believes that everything is achievable through sincerity and hard work.

Rajiv has always been passionate about delivering high-quality software at the price that doesn’t burn a hole in customer’s pocket. Entering into the IT arena was all about his passion’s call. He is a problem solver who loves to manage hurdles, people, and whatever gets thrown at his way. By understanding the customer software market, Virgosys has been pioneers in custom development and solutions. Rajiv loves interacting with people, curious about understanding others problems, has an active mind to find the solutions which give him an edge over the other players.

Offering Innovative Solutions

Rajiv Sharma, CEO 60

Virgosys Software Pvt. Ltd has its offshore development center, custom software development firm in Bangalore. Established in 1994, the company has been serving clients globally. The company provides creative solutions to cater to clients according to current as well as future needs.

The global delivery model being its forte, Virgosys ranks amongst the best of breed solution Partners.

Being the driving force behind Virgosys, the company’s highly talented engineers competently

March 2019|

At Virgosys the foremost priority is to make IT work wonders for the company and allows focusing on core business. The company offers bespoke services on Web, Web applications, Mobile Apps – Android and IOS, And SAP. The company also has products such as Institution management, E-Learning, Inventory, POS etc. Custom Software / Bespoke software made just for an organization or individual business that performs tasks specific to their business needs and processes are called custom software.

Talking about Virgosys Rajiv says, “Your success is reflected in the Virgosys success story! The firm has faith that the offered solutions give you the defined return on investment is based on complete commitment and concentrated efforts” The success Saga Be it Fortune 50 clients or small SMEs, the company worked with all types of clients across the globe.

Since inception, the companies haven’t failed to deliver any solution or challenge. The company has a loyal base of the clients across the globe. Virgosys has been a careercatapulting organization and many of its employees have settled in the US with green cards. “We have built products, delivered services, integrated hardware solutions and

|March 2019

waiting for the next big challenge, bring it on!” says Rajiv Recalling his most memorable memories Rajiv Says, “We are really elated when the clients are satisfied with our solutions and tell us your solutions have really saved efforts and losses as well as money.

Managing our business now without the software looks like a Herculean task. Success to us is Happy Clients” Overcoming the Hurdles At the end of the day, success comes to people who take risks. The company's clients have called them regarding other solutions not working and also asked to rescue it.

Virgosys have seen risks in handling 3rd party code and a lot of unwanted fluff. The company also had risks in projects with respect to payments; still, the company stood by gut feel and delivered novel solutions.

“Technically some were challenging but perseverance pays off when you

“

Faith and perseverance are

make a firm proposition of delivering to the customer, a major part of it is the team and has ably supported me”, says Rajiv A Piece of Advice to Young Entrepreneurs Rajiv truly believes that to be the successful entrepreneur one must have to be clear and focused on the vision. At the same time, it is vital to stay in touch with reality, manage finances along with building the best team.

“One man can’t do everything.

Evaluate the outcomes and please do form a proper team with a similar vision to achieve your goals in life and business”, Adds Rajiv.

Future Ahead Progressing forward with a positive approach, Virgosys Software will continue to grow in terms of expansion in other countries, partner for product sales. The company will continue to add value to the existing customer by providing best-in-class solutions. The company will be focused on expanding its global footprint in different countries and invite partners to come and grow with the company.

the virtues which

“

understand the clients’ long-term requirements. The company provides services in the field of custom software development and information technology consulting.

make a leader successful

61

T

Renil Komitla A Perseverant Articulator

here are a lot people who have ideas, but few have the audacity to convert ideas into opportunities. A true entrepreneur is doer not dreamer. Renil Komitla is one such entrepreneur, who believed in giving wings to his long-cherished aspirations. Hard work spotlights the character of an entrepreneur. With consistence hard work towards a goal, one can achieve anything. “There is no shortcut to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure”, says Renil.

After completing a bachelor degree in computer science from Bengaluru University, Renil went to the US for completing MS. In the US, the entrepreneurial bug motivated him to set up his company called Paxterra Software Solutions which later merged with software Solutions Company called Terralogic.

Headquartered in Bengaluru, it is a leading technology services and IT company with a diversified workforce in multiple locations—with offices San Jose, California and Richardson, Texas, in the US, and Vietnam and Australia operated and managed by seasoned industry veterans.

A Thoughtful Socialpreneur While everyone is moving to big cities for employment, there are few people who are dreaming of bringing jobs to India. Renil also shares similar dreams. “I always wanted to live for a cause and my cause was to create employment. I wanted to start something on my own and create something which would create employment”, Says Renil Renil grew up with an intention to be an entrepreneur right from childhood. Renil’s grandfather is his key source of inspiration in life. Talking about his grandfather Renil says, “My grandfather has been my inspiration who was an entrepreneur in Nellore.”

“I will work till my last breath with a feeling that my Grandfather is watching my back when I am out fighting my battles and he will feel happy when I create more and more employment”, adds Renil.

Renil Komitla, President & CEO 62

An Insight to Terralogic Terralogic is dedicated to providing best in class services in diverse sectors including telecommunications, manufacturing, semiconductors,

March 2019|

Terralogic operates in the three different business segments: Software Services, Strategy and IT, Digital Transformation.

Software Services- Terralogic is dedicated to providing end to end software services to clients. It offers services from design, development to automation. The company is providing best in class services in hardware and software to its clients. The company’s software services consist of Product development, product sustenance, IT Engineering spectrum, embedded engineering, product test, and verification etc.

Strategy and IT services - Terralogic helps its client to decide the right IT strategy for their work. The company is implementing those strategies in the health network operations center, the Security Operations Center along with building cloud strategy. The company is offering Professional Consulting, IT Managed Services to its clients.

Digital transformation -There are various businesses whose core business is not technology and those companies operate in the non-technology area.

Terralogic helps such companies to transform digitally. It helps its clients by coming up with the right strategy and transform their physical network.

The company also helps its client to transform their software digitally. The company services consist of UI/UX, AI Machine learning, mobile app development, website development, data science, cloud infra cost

|March 2019

optimization, app performance optimization etc.

Rough Water Makes Skilled Sailors There was a time when Renil had no money in the bank and all of his credit cards were exhausted. His savings, retirement fund was all running out.

“That was the time of saying, ‘Now or never’. It was the time to decide whether to continue or give up, goes back and takes up a job to pay off the loan”, says Renil.

“I will always cherish the memory of signing the first customer for the company which is the result of several months of hard work”, says Renil.

“For long time I didn’t have any money and that time that customer was willing to pay $3,000 back in 2009”, adds Renil.

Challenges often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.

Overcoming challenges provides an opportunity of the growth. “We are working in areas which offer a challenge in day-to-day lives. We are daily facing challenges of winning the customer, giving them right solution

and convincing them to buy products”, says Renil. “No matter it is a day or night I am dedicated to solve any problems related to employees, customers”, adds Renil. His mantra that has cascaded to every employee under his realm is Precision and Perseverance.

Mantra for Success Renil advices to budding entrepreneurs, “With the patience, faith, and belief one can overcome all the challenges of the life. Always have patience in every situation. Patience and faithfulness is exactly what you need to make complete turnaround”.

Future Roadmap Progressing forward with positive approach, the company aims to be the top 10 player in country to create employment and bring value to customer. The company sees itself as trusted advisor and will continue to bring the change agents in way of operations of its clients.

“

“

transportation, insurance, retail, oil and gas, sports, travel and tourism, hospitality, banking, and entertainment industries.

Chase dreams not funding

63

Shailendra E Bramhvanshi

ntrepreneurship is all about giving wings to your dreams. The aspiration to disrupt an existing model and innovate something ‘extraordinary’ from the shack is what this exciting journey is all about! Techaroha - a Blockchain and AI Partner is one of the best-suited entities that is synonymous to innovation and implementing new-age technologies to develop customized services and solutions.

A Dexterous Block Chain and AI Expert

Shailendra Bramhvanshi, Umesh Mahadik, and Sagar Salunkhe are the team of technocrats who aspired to cross the horizons and embark an entrepreneurial journey. Quitting their lucrative jobs, the trio took the first step to convert their dreams into reality. The Missing Floor was the first venture that worked majorly for the offshore clients and later in 2014; the entity got a new face as Techaroha Solutions Private Ltd. Simultaneously, with unified efforts of Shailendra, Umesh and Sagar, the company expanded the business and started development in PHP-based web applications and mobile app development.

Acknowledging that Crypto-currency, Mining, AI and Blockchain are the creators for a better tomorrow, they started focusing in these areas and exploring it to the core! By taking a deeper dive into tech-enabled innovations, they created a niche in these sectors and are on their way to revolutionize the world of AI and Blockchain Services.

Quest to Learn | Optimistic | Tech Enthusiastic Apart from being the Co-founders of Techaroha, Shailendra, Umesh and Sagar also have a good freelance base from different countries with expertise in SugarCRM. They also got recognition amongst the Top 10 Worldwide Contributors in SugarCRM forum.

The biographies of Steve Jobs, Jack Ma, and a book 'Rich Dad and Poor Dad' written by Robert Kiyosaki motivated them to stay in business rather than doing jobs.

Shailendra Bramhvanshi, Founder Umesh Mahadik, Co-founder | Sagar Salunkhe, Co-founder

66

Along with being business partners and a core team, Shailendra, Umesh and Sagar have been each other’s support system for more than seven years. They are zealous in embracing technology and helping people in finding business solutions. “We love trying new ideas and the challenge of staying at the forefront of a changing industry allows us to get more learning opportunities,” says Shailendra.

March 2019|

Based in Mumbai, the company works with a vision to reach to the peak of ‘Technological Excellency’ in the field of Information and Technology. With ‘Customer Satisfaction’ as a primary objective, Techaroha rolls out solutions which successfully quench client’s need by embracing innovative methodologies and value-for-money technologies. Today, with the trio’s committed focus on new-age technologies, the company has become a frontrunner in providing comprehensive solutions in the areas of internet applications, customer relationship management, and legacy systems.

Since inception, Shailendra, Umesh and Sagar are on a mission to empower customers in achieving their business goals. Under their aegis, Techaroha was listed amongst Top 5 Finalists of Chhattisgarh Govt - Blockchain for e-Governance Grand Challenge in 2018. It also listed amongst the Top 10 Finalists of ICICI Bank Mobile App Development Challenge for improving mobile banking experience of users.

In a small stint of five years, Team Techaroha has implemented CRM solutions for various giant corporates and around forty-five small

|March 2019

organizations. The team also ensures that the clientele has a profitable ROI.

whenever giant corporates look out for queries, Techaroha pops in.

The Curated Set of Services Under the guidance of the core team, Techaroha offers a diversified range for services in Blockchain and Related Technologies including:

Blockchain – During 2017, customers hardly new the significance of Blockchain development. So, it was impossible for the trio to approach clients with their company’s Blockchain services. As such, under their assistance, Techaroha started extensive online marketing – wrote blogs and posted answers in forums on its website. In a short span of two weeks, the company was at the top of the Google results for Blockchain services.

• New Cryptocurrency Development • ICO Development • Web and Desktop Wallet Development • Mining Pool Setup • Mining Farm Setup • Hyperledger Development • Web Application • Angular and NodeJs Application Surpassing Challenges SugarCRM – Most of the organizations using SugarCRM were big corporates and getting to them with an appeal to use their services was a major challenge for the co-founders. To handle this, they successfully used their contacts and forums. They asked their developers to offer free-of-cost solutions to the customers having SugarCRM queries. As a result, the company’s image in SugarCRM forums successfully improved and there was no looking back! Today,

“

Our Solu ons…

Your Success

“

About Techaroha Brainchild of the trio, Techaroha Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is providing services related to Blockchain and AI Applications. It is a software development company providing IT services and solutions towards application development, product development, Mobile Application Development, Maintenance & Support, SugarCRM, PHP Development, and Sales Process Automation. Techaroha’s technical team consists of full-stack developers with expertise on NodeJs, Angular, Solidity, Go Lang, Blockchain, AI, Hyperledger and Ethereum Smart Contract.

An Advisory Note Patience and Focus are the key strengths of any entrepreneur. From management’s perspective, look into all aspects especially Finance Management – consult an expert if required. Maintain a good CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau India Limited) score for a longer run.

Distributing the work in an effective manner can help the young to overcome hurdles like never before.

Pioneer of Future Leading Techaroha, the Co-founders aim to be a pioneer in Blockchain and AI Services. They believe that these new-age technologies are the future of IT. In Blockchain, the company is working on solutions to eliminate the needs of giving photocopies and sending the same documents like salary slips, rent agreement and more for the same purpose. The core team is also working on Blockchain CV and KYC which would have secured verified documents and can be accessed easily with the owner’s permission. As per AI is concerned, Shailendra, Umesh and Sagar are working on real life problems in India and creating a team of trained developers who would be ready to execute AI related tasks at ease.

67

TIPS FOR BUILDING A STRONG BRAND IMAGE

W

ell if someone will ask me what’s in a name, I would say EVERYTHING. Well the reason - A dynamic and vibrant brand is what keeps the prospective/ existing customer glued to you, and that too; not just for today. The Brand is the persona of your business to your clientele.

In today’s cutthroat-competitive business environment, Brand Image of a business has become the necessity of every brand in order to stand out among its competitors.

Branding and image holdsthe power to influence customer’s attitude towards the companyas it is the core representation of an organization.

With that in mind, let’s understand some handy tips to develop a strong and a consistent brand image for your organization: 1. Identify Your Key Audiences: The very first stepis to identify your Target group/Target audience. One needs to understand that a Brand communicates not just to its customers but the mix set of audiences which include Employees, partners, etc. Define a strategy that is tailor-made as per the audience you targeting, it can’t be one for all. The effective Marketing strategy shall directly speak to the key audience defining the needs and concerns.

2. What’s your Business Goals: “Shooting in dark wont aim anywhere” similarly a strategy mapped without knowing the final goal or defined deliverables will not yield any benefits. Without knowing the short term and long term business goals, the activity and effort is a waste of valuable resources.

68

3. Bring the Brand identity: Now that you know the TG,and also the Goals to achieve one needs to focus on building the brand Persona (Identity). The Brand identity needs to demarcated as to what defines you?

What makes you different as against the competition and also the unique positioning? It needs to be simple and relevant. Put in all the efforts to build a name for your brand by keeping all your advertising focus on making the benefits more tangible for your customer base. You can win your audience over with Out of the Box strategies that must be on target.

4. The Key messaging: Also, known as the key takeaways for the audience whom you targeting.

Manuscript those messages and sync them with the TG. By the end of it that’s what your audience will relate your brand to. It should combine the business values and ethics, with a splash of your brand personality.

After you have drilled down and laid the foundation for your brand image, you can ramp up your promotion activities to build a loyal customer following and generate sales!

Last but not the least, Be Consistent: Consistency inyour messaging, promotion of your business, establishes stronger brand awareness. Consistency in communication establishes a stronger foothold and recognizable business image, a greater business reputation and generates an enduring successful business.

March 2019|

Expert’s Advise

Sunil Agarwal Director

ABOUT THE AUTHOR The task of pushing forward a well-established business legacy may be enviable for some but for the doer himself, it could be the most daun ng challenge. Sunil Agarwal, Director of Vinod Cookware took up the mantle of taking the cookware empire to newer highs and has delivered outstandingly.

Serving the company from the past two decades, Agarwal has become a notable dignitary in the industry.

Expanding Vinod’s repertoire from stainless steel to state-of-the- art technology categories such as induc on cookware and the compe ve non-s ck cookware, Agarwal achieved success regularly.

Apart from the other responsibili es, he is largely responsible for the widespread produc on and domes c marke ng. His decisions of analyzing and implemen ng the right strategies on me to me basis which has brought diversified flavor and strong analy cal ability for Vinod Cookware as a brand. In his various other interests, he has also been an ac ve affiliate to Stainless Steel Merchants and several Industrial Bodies. An ardent Sports enthusiast Mr.Agrawal loves to indulge in some Squash and Badminton in his free me.

|March 2019

69

Varahagiri Srinivas Dreamer, Believer, and Achiever

A

n entrepreneur with a clear vision Founder of Prathigna, Srinivas Varahagiri can be best described as ambitious and prone to risk-taking person. From his childhood, he always imagined himself to be the proud founder and owner of a company which will offer critical services to people in need. And, as always, the law of attraction worked for Srinivas also and as he grew older, he found himself specialising in managerial positions in various sectors of the industry. It was a very awful moment when he saw his dreams taking shape in the form of a start-up that would one day offer hiring and sourcing services to professionals and fresh graduates alike.

“It is an amazing, empowering feeling to be able to provide employment to qualified professionals from all fields of interest, humbling and life-affirming at the same time,” says Srinivas.

Dreaming so big of opening a company from childhood, when other children dream for a secured and good job for themselves. This is what it marks the difference between an ordinary worker drone and the entrepreneur with a vision.

The Attitude of Gratitude!

As a working professional himself, Srinivas began envisioning his career as he worked in various private companies over the years; learning and picking up practical experience in technical knowledge and human interpersonal communication from everyone whom he met along the way. “Every single person has contributed directly or indirectly to my experience and knowledge; my gratitude towards them”—says Srinivas.

Srinivas Varahagiri, Founder 70

In this journey of his career, he found support from various sources. He had been blessed with the friends in his professional and personal life, who encouraged him to take this massive leap. He proudly mentioned that it was his life partner Sowjanya who played a vital role in the event filled path of his career. With the entry of his co-pilot, his flight to success saw the fixing of a target, the building of boundaries and the

March 2019|

A start of Prathigna with Infectious Interaction Eventually, every infectious interaction led Srinivas to start a Prathigna.com a HR solutions company that specializes in hiring and sourcing, with the additional focus on building a reliable, established brand name in online job portals – called Hullo Jobs.

To briefly introduce Prathigna.com: Established in Bangalore in November 2015, it is a one-stop solution that caters to both job seekers and recruiters with hiring requirements. The reasons for selecting a competitive and upcoming sector of the hiring industry included the foresight of anticipating a boom in job creation, a void that needed to be addressed, in the form of building the bridge between job seekers and recruiters/hiring managers.

It is the mother of two ventures: Hullo Jobs – an online job portal where job seekers can search and apply for job postings in various disciplines, and XYZ Jobs – fulfilling sourcing and hiring needs for companies and clients.

The motto of the company is simply and strongly expressed thus “To be the bridge between a Jobseeker and the Recruiter and playing a key role in the Recruitment Industry.”

While talking about the motivating factor in his journey so far he said –“I found inspiration in the videos of our most esteemed political figure and former Honourable PM Shri A.B. Vajapayee, who was not only known for his excellent diplomacy but great oratory and poetic skills. From those wisdom and values he found a great

|March 2019

wealth of learning, high thinking, and create a personal code of ethics devoted to service of others. This is what directly assisted the decisionmaking process in the creation of Prathigna.com.”

More to Do! Since its inception, the company has achieved various key milestones, which include the ISO 9001:2015 Certification. Thus, the company was soon on the way to becoming a force in the online job search and sourcing sectors of the increasingly busy and vibrant corporate scenario of Bangalore. Starting with and expanding the teams of professionals from one to many, and establishing a flourishing sourcing department count amongst the other noteworthy events since being formed in 2015. It is expected the company will achieve its break even in 2019.

Prathigna.com has weathered many a storm, bouncing back every time with the renewed vigour and enthusiasm to

“

Bounce back every me with the renewed vigour and enthusiasm to conquer the ever compe ve market

“

setting down of the foundation of the strong professional work culture.

conquer the ever competitive market of hiring and online job search portals. It is one of the fast-moving industries, with several new entrants in this market which only motivate to move faster and smarter. The company anticipates expanding operations to eight major cities across India.

Sharing Advice To the youthful entrepreneur, Srinivas has a very simple maxim to share: regular work and improve on communication and language skills. To be able to share a goal with others, one need to be able to improve upon ideas and need to present them fluently and simultaneously hone their orientation and focus. To know what it is they want from professional life, to be able to see their goal and future in concrete and tenable form – to put it simply – “Know what you want, and how to work to get it.”

Always keep in mind that ‘employees’ are the key players in achieving the company’s overall success. As an employee, the individual must be aware of the common goals they share with other employees of the start-up firm, learn to adopt the object of the firm, adhering fastidiously to the same, and moving as a unit towards achieving this target.

To know more about the company visit- hullojobs.com, xyzjobs.in, hullonurse.com

71