PEOPLE Leadership
THE POWER OF PURPOSE
The Co-founder and Director of customisable ticketing platform Megatix Thailand, VINOD “VIN” KUMAR, is innovation-driven. He shares with neetinder dhillon how he believes in empowering his team, and blocking time on his calendar for creativity
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o try and pigeonhole 39-year-old Vinod “Vin” Kumar would be an exercise in futility, as he is a man with multiple identities. Born in Wolverhampton, England – and an avid supporter of the Wolverhampton Wanderers football club – he is actually Australian by nationality (with family in Melbourne), Indian by ethnicity, and calls Bangkok home. His business is in the software-tech arena, but his background is a mix of stints in the hospitality industry and event management, particularly concerts. As a teenager, the list of famous people he wanted to meet included LL Cool J and DMX, and he had worked with both before he even turned 25. Currently, as the Co-founder of Megatix Thailand, Vin’s professional life centres around providing “innovative software solutions for the entertainment, exhibition and tourism industry”. Megatix, as he explains it, is “a customisable software platform that empowers the hospitality and tourism industry to sell their offerings online”. The company operates in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia, covering a cross-section of industries. He had been a regular visitor to Thailand, but in 2014 he moved to Bangkok full-time to work with Accor (a former boss from Perth was instrumental to the job offer). Meanwhile, the urging of his parents to “find somebody and settle down” also played a role in his relocation. “I was in my early thirties and wasn’t ready, so I thought it best to go overseas,” he recalls. Karma, however, had other plans and within three months of moving to Bangkok he met his wife. “Life’s strange like that,” he muses. Not surprisingly, his parents were delighted. Krittaya (or Keerat), his Thai-Indian wife of six years, is a private investment banker, and they have two children: daughter Surya (3),
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and son Vikram (1). Of course, two children and two high-powered jobs can also be quite the juggling act. “It’s kind of like a magic show, how things can fall into place at times. You have to enjoy the bad days as much as the good, because that’s what parenting is.” And while Vin enjoys the occasional curveballs of parenting, he pauses to wonder aloud if perhaps he should have married earlier. His eyes, though, reflect inner contentment, “I wake up every morning happy. I’m optimistic. Life is a gift. You really can’t waste time not making the most of it.” When speaking about professional matters, it’s clear Vin is results-driven. “You have to impact change, not keep things the same,” he says, and Megatix is his platform of change. Conceived in Australia by Ashley Ratten and Roshan Odhavji, as an event ticketing software, it reinvented itself in 2018, under the stewardship of Megatix Thailand co-founders Vin and Onur Atasoy, to focus on the hospitality sector. Earlier in his career, as Head of Marketing for AccorHotels Thailand, Vin had dealt with the old-fashioned industry approach. But with Megatix, hotels went from physical vouchers to the online world. “Clients upload their events/ offers, do the marketing and use our technology to sell tickets/vouchers and receive payments,” he explains. From just 40-50 hotels on Megatix prepandemic, the roster now stands at 300 plus. “When Covid hit, I got calls from hotel GMs wanting to leverage our platform. We are not just another OTA (online travel agency) or a marketing platform. You will never see Mandarin Oriental use their social media to promote an offer on an OTA, but they promote Megatix vouchers.” For the customer, Megatix means value and convenience, while for hotels it’s about “receiving revenue today for future service”.
As for post-Covid, Vin’s not concerned. “We have become a part of the marketing strategy. It would be silly if hotels didn’t consider this longterm strategy.” Life, adds Vin, is about reinventing and learning. “Be clear about what you want and work towards it. People stop learning, so my advice is to pick up new skills.” He also emphasises that one should make time for creativity. “I block time for work, and also time to work purely on new concepts – a time for creativity.” When it comes to the team he believes in empowerment. “Train the team to work independently. Make them accountable. Don’t waste time complaining. Just get on with it.” This hands-off boss, though, is a hands-on parent and a huge fan of working remotely. “Working from home has been fantastic, especially with young kids. Spending quality time with the kids and my wife, travelling... weekends revolve around the kids.” His stress reliever, by contrast, is cooking. “Getting into the kitchen is relaxing and therapeutic.” Friendships must be meaningful, but it’s quality over quantity stresses Vin. “I learned the hard way. Working in nightclubs and events, I had a lot of toxic friendships. My social circle now is a fraction of what it used to be, but they’re all true friends. I grew up in a house where we always had people over, so hosting and entertaining friends is what I enjoy.” As for life in Bangkok, Vin sees it as a city of extremes. “You can have a really expensive dinner, or hire a private chef, or get a pad Thai for 30 baht. It’s a great place to live and super convenient, but… the traffic! I also hate going to shopping malls.” And when it comes to favourite hangouts, he namechecks Hemingway’s on Sukhumvit Soi 11. “It’s got an outdoor area, and it reminds me of home (Australia). The food is good, and the beer is always cold.” Vin tends to dive deep if something catches his interest. A documentary could spark it, and recently a Serena and Venus Williams doc sent him down the rabbit hole of watching tennis matches and every imaginable interview with the sisters. Podcasts are another go-to for discovering new things. Interestingly, it’s astronomy that brings out the philosopher in him. “My dad’s a scientist and I got my first astronomy book when I was just learning to read. I’m excited about the James Webb Space Telescope (infrared astronomy). Looking up at the stars is humbling. It keeps things in perspective. We’re just a part of something so much bigger.”
#prestigeleadership | MARCH 2022 PRESTIGE
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