Independent Edition 2023

Editor’s Note

A leader is the one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” Indeed, a leader is one of the most crucial pillars of a successful and well-established organization. And leadership is a qualitycum-skill that’s hard to acquire later on instead, it’s an in-born talent that people come into this world with. For decades, we have been witnessing multiple top-notch leaders around us that not only inspire us but also fill us with a great zeal for doing something extraordinary in our lives. In the business world, a leader is an essential element that not only gives a backbone to the organization but also positively inspires the workforce to be a better version of every passing day.

LEADERS WITH BEYOND LIMIT ENTHUSIASM

Now, jumping straight to the data of the current business surveys, more than 5 million new business ventures have been launched in the market in the past 1-2 years. This truly shows that neither a hurdle nor a pandemic can stop an entrepreneurial brain and an enthusiastic leader to flaunt his or her talent. Our team came across one such influencing leader, Mr. Anannya Sengupta, who is revamping the business industry with his brainchild-AAJ Media. His inspiring success tale and unmatched expertise along with years of experience tremendously hit and made us feature him on our cover page.

This exclusive edition of our magazine which we call is entirely dedicated to all the zealous and inspiring business leaders out there in the market who are revamping their respective domains of business with an exceptional master plan. The members of our Business Connect family have put their utmost effort and skills to bring this particular edition to the table for our readers. And we can assure you that every single page that you will flip will add extra value to your life and will immensely influence the upcoming entrepreneurs out there.

I would like to wind up by saying that your consistency and focus are the main stepping stones on the path to success that help you go beyond imagination. All you need to do is be focused and try your best to sustain consistency to excel in your goals with flying colors. I would request permission to leave our readers with a quote for our entrepreneurs out there by Indra Nooyi, Founder, “The world is full of ideas today if you don’t do it somebody else gonna do it.”

Keep Shining!

Gulshan Parveen

gulshan@businessconnectindia.in

Vol - 5 | Special Edition | February 2023

Publisher & Editor : Abhishek Kumar Dubey

Editorial Team

Sugandh Bahl | Gulshan Parveen | Dr. Amit Mishra

Avishek Singh | Kriti Anand | Sanjay Kumar

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ASHISH KUMAR

Senior Marketing Manager

Sonia Tiwari

Senior Relationship Manager

Reshmi Mishra

Corporate Team

Satyam Singh | Sunny Pathak | Asha Dudeja | Pradeep Pandey | Reetu Chauhan | Komal Verma

Sudha Gupta | Vikash Kumar | Archna Pawar | Vijender Saroj | Mohit Rathee | Kazim Barati

Abhishek Mishra | Navdeep Sharma | Kavita Tiwari

Co-ordinator (Business Connect-Clients)

Anita Kumari | Priyanka Gupta

Data Research & Analysis

Satyam Tiwari | Amit Kumar | Anita | Ravinder Singh | Rahul Kumar | Sweta | Shweta Kumari

Prince | Ritika | Rekha | Simran | Khusboo | Hitesh | Raja

Finance Team

Monika Aggarwal | Gaurav Singhal | Jyoti

Creative Director

ASHUTOSH OJHA

Creative Team

Rajat Pathak | Vishant Saroj | Pawan Yadav | Vandana Gusain

Legal Affairs

Mukesh Kumar

Human Resources

Nivedita Basu

Digital Marketing Manager

Anurag Tiwari

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Anannya Sengupta Co-Founder & Director

The communication world has witnessed a mega boom all over the globe that asserted the need for film and corporate videos to increase the reach among the targeted audience. For businesses, a short corporate video bite could do wonders for their respective audience by drawing attention. Similarly, as the demand for video content is increasing daily, Media production houses are being established here and there. But how to identify the genuinely dedicated ones in the pool of these proliferating production houses? We would like to introduce a new-age media production companyAAJ Media Productions. The company is grabbing eyeballs across its targeted market owing to its unique business philosophy and undeniably creating an impact on its audience.

Mr Anannya Sengupta, aka Jijo Sengupta, is the Co-Founder and Director of the company. He enlightened us on the overall business portfolio and provided valuable, informative wisdom that helped us create this narrative. Dive into this exclusive read based on the excerpts of his conversation with us.

AAJ MEDIA PRODUCTIONS

A childhood ardor that turned into a successful venture

Anannya Sengupta Co-Founder & Director

Q: 01 COULD YOU PLEASE SHED SOME LIGHT ON YOUR VENTURE’S INCEPTION STORY, COMPANY PROFILE, AND SERVICES?

Well, there’s a whole story about how AAJ Media Productions started. Taking you back to my childhood days, I was always fascinated by films and it was something that inspired me. I grew up watching cartoons and always looked forward to more. During those years, I strongly realised the sense and presence of a story in every single thing and every single element. Being a child, we watched cartoons and not proper films. Eventually, when you grow up, you understand, you see the world, and you experience it and that makes you understand the Power of Storytelling. I loved the idea of Storytelling and that moved me a lot. I was fortunate enough and blessed to get the opportunity of studying for my bachelor’s in New Media and Interactive Development and master’s in Films and Animation from Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, USA.

I wanted to contribute to the entertainment industry in my own country, and my home, the place where I was born, the place where I grew up. This gave birth to AAJ Media Productions. Born out of this power of storytelling and realising that we can contribute to the entertainment industry, AAJ Media had its humble beginning. I aim to make a contribution to films, where I create a sense that makes people not just follow it for the sake of it, but actually, ponder on them. That’s the difference I want to make. I believe there are hidden treasures of stories and memories residing in every corner. That’s the whitespace that is institutionally not addressed. This is all about AAJ.

The services that we offer are in the form of entertainment through stories and cinema. Other than the entertainment industry, we also serve brands and individuals. We believe that every individual and brand has their own stories to tell, that’s where we craft their stories through our lens. We create a platform for small businesses to strive digitally. We have developed expertise in understanding our client’s vision and mission in telling their stories. As filmmakers, we not only capture their narratives through the camera but we also capture the emotional aspects of their story. We merge the nuances of Hollywood and Bollywood by mixing the rigour and grammar of classical filmmaking along with the emotions and glitters of Bollywood. We named this stylistic approach the “Holly - Bolly Way”. This enables us to provide an enriching experience in presenting our stylistically distinctive stories.

02: PLEASE ENLIGHTEN US ON HOW YOU BUILT YOUR ENERGETIC TEAM.

I have always focused on the values that are cardinal for high-impact team building at AAJ. Firstly, the type of people that I picked for my team needed to be extremely skilful in their roles. Secondly, the most important thing that matters to me is the type of human beings they are because one can’t teach that. It is something that they already are but skills can be taught. I need people who vibe off with my energy, compliment it and when

I feel tired they push me to achieve more. For me, it’s not just me directing my team but it is about them directing each other including me at particular times. I am a human too and there are times when I have creative blocks, questions and situations where I am not able to understand certain things. So, that is when I need my team to be able to give that energy if sometimes it is missing from my end. I am so proud of my team right now as they are super talented, caring and at the same time they have the balance of energy and work.

One thing that I like to always say and it’s an integral part of AAJ culture is ‘Work Hard and Play Hard’. I need my people to play hard as well because when you play, relax and get to know a person truly for who they are, that’s when the work becomes ten times easier. Rather than me being their regular boss I need to be their friend first. No matter if there are protocols but for me being their friend first is crucial as they will hear me, and understand me and my vision in a better manner. If they are not able to empathise with my vision and just listen to me then it becomes very mechanical. I want them to feel what I feel. I strongly believe that when my team feels that they are making a difference, they tend to be more energetic and invested in projects. I am so glad that my current team understands me and the vision of the company so well and we always try to keep ourselves productive, energetic and positive at all times.

The Founding Team of AAJ Media Productions

03: HOW DID YOU ENSURE AND MANAGE TO STAY STRONG WITH YOUR TEAM DURING THE PANDEMIC TIMES?

Like other industries, the pandemic has deeply impacted the media and entertainment industry and we are no different. There were certain setbacks and despair but we never forgot the bigger and brighter picture. Our love for crafting and telling good and heartfelt stories has always been our driving force. During that time, we were physically apart but always ensured that I stayed connected with my team members through Zoomenabled virtual meetings. We celebrated all occasions like birthdays, and festivals as well as organised seminars and competitions through the platform.

During the pandemic when larger companies were firing their workforce or cutting off their pay, we never let that thought encroach our minds. All our employees are our extended family members and we value and care for each one of them. We got so many opportunities to understand each other and did many team bonding sessions together. We learned new techniques to equip ourselves with upgraded information and skills during this time.

We channelised all our energies to start the pre-production of Ping Pong’d, our upcoming web series which will be launched real soon. It’s our very dear project and has motivated us to stay productive and sane during those hard times. We all are super excited about its launch. With my team’s endless efforts and positivity, we successfully delivered client projects during the pandemic too.

04: HOW DOES YOUR COMPANY KEEP PACE WITH THE MOST RECENT TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN THE MARKET?

The main thing I would say is “Research, Research and more Research’ because technology never stays the same. It keeps upgrading, updating and keeps having new features so it’s up to us to be able to tackle it effectively. I am a very tech-savvy person and always try to bridge the gap between challenges and solutions through continuous learning. There are situations, where I can give an example, let’s take editing. Before, Adobe used to be a very popular tool for editing, now it’s more of Da Vinci Resolve. It’s allin-one software which has everything. Even that comes with periodic upgrades.

We do collaborative workflows together not just sharing files here and there but work simultaneously on the same working file through different computers. We do not have servers in the office but we can still work together on the same project file because we are updated with technology. We do research and read articles and we have people who continuously keep a tab on new technologies, advanced techniques and progressive approaches that are trending in the industry.

We use the latest world-class global tools, technological platforms, systems and software to create a super-efficient and seamless work ecosystem. Every technology that we use at our workplace such as Zoho, Workplace, Dropbox, Trello, etc helps keep our teams effective and productive. All these global and digital platforms were used by us

during the pandemic to connect with our teams and build a cloud-based workspace. So, that’s how we rock and roll.

05: FOR WHAT TYPE OF CLIENT ARE YOU CREATING STORIES? HOW DID YOU GAIN THEIR TRUST THROUGHOUT THE JOURNEY?

We have a wide array of exciting and dynamic clients. We serve both nationally and internationally across all sectors including hospitality, IT, health, telecom, etc. We have catered to individual clients such as Executive Coaches to many CEOs to make their personalised profiles as impactful as their visions are. We have story-crafting recipes for all. We crafted corporate videos for international clients for their annual marketing summit and it is most loved by their entire global teams. We have created so many brand films for our national clients as well.

We love our work and ensure that we give our best to create the most memorable storytelling experience for all our clients. Our skilled employees based in India, USA and Singapore create their magic to deliver the best to our customers. Each of our clients’ projects goes through rigorous processes of filmmaking stages which are PreProduction, Production and Post-Production. At all these stages, we make sure that we polish out their vision with great finesse and finish without compromising on quality at any stage. Nothing can make us happier than receiving positive and raving feedback from our customers and we live for that.

06. HOW DO YOU ENVISION TO GROW YOUR COMPANY ? You will agree with me that success in business or anything new is indeed not a cakewalk. With the passion and commitment to your work, I believe the company can continue to reach new heights. The desire to turn one’s imagination into a reality is what drives us at AAJ. I truly believe that we are the Masters of our own Space and Time. Our dynamic approach is to treat stories as if they were music. Shhh... That’s our mantra. Every story we create flows on the beats and rhythms of our imagination. We pour all the emotions that you all can connect with, through our secret weapon... Our Lenses. And I firmly believe that this will allow our audience to experience the flavours of storytelling in our style. I am fortunate to have a team that believes in my mantra because that is what will AAJ Media Productions to greater heights.

07. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU BELIEVE GIVES YOU AN EDGE OVER COMPETITORS AND DISTINGUISHES YOU FROM THEM?

I will say mainly it’s the process. We are a company that specialises in everything “Film”. There are studios that specialise in just animation, live-action and editing. I am very proud to say that we are one company that specialises in each and every aspect of the film that exists in this industry. Be it 2D or 3D Animation, Stop Motion, Lighting, Compositing, Texturing, Rendering, Sound Designing and Recording, Cinematography, CGI Animation and VFX, we master all of these. Honestly, it is not even an edge but an entire plateau that we have, that stands us out from our competitors. We can literally do anything on film.

If you see, today, my team will shoot live action, the next day you may see them working on a VFX project, and the day after they would be working on rendering or lighting, so that’s how versatile my team is. The other thing that makes AAJ Media Productions unique and distinctive is the impactful approach that we follow. We merge the nuances of Hollywood’s rigour and grammar of classical filmmaking along with the emotions and glitters of Bollywood. This enables us to provide an enriching experience in presenting our stories that are stylistically distinctive.

08. COULD YOU PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE KEY PERSONNEL IN YOUR COMPANY WHO HAVE BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN ACHIEVING YOUR VISION?

Honestly, the entire team. They all have their individual contributions which add up to what AAJ is right now. For example, the founders offer an overarching blanket of vision, principles and supervision. We have the HR Department ensuring that everything at the workplace goes smoothly, starting from recruitment to employee engagement activities. The Design

Azadi ka Amritmahotsav celebrated at AAJ HQ

Shooting for our short film

Training sessions by Jijo Sengupta

Diwali Festivities @ AAJ HQ

Department makes sure that things that are put up for the world are looking aesthetically pleasing and stylistic. They are always following the latest trends in design principles and technicalities that we are using. The Business Development Department is very diligent in putting the word out there for us, promoting our services and giving more business. The Production team ensures to create good quality content for us and for our clients.

Even our housekeeping staff who keeps our workplace squeaky clean and hygienic because I believe that working in a clean environment makes one happy. When we come and work on our clean desks it really adds to our happiness. I really respect this fact and thank my office boy for that every day. Our security team always ensures that we stay safe and sound. Our Admin Department keeps the workspace functional all the time. They keep track of office supplies and utilities. They always ensure the food is always there for us as we work late at night sometimes. So that’s how everyone adds up to create a super productive day at work. I would like to say that there is no key personnel, the personnel is the Key.

09. HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR TEAM MOTIVATED? IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIFIC YOU DO TO MAINTAIN THEIR ENTHUSIASM?

Like I said earlier, the main thing for me is that before being a leader I want to be their friend. Friends stick together and care for each other. We go out together and talk about topics other than work. I don’t believe in Work-Life balance. Work affects life and life affects work. I believe that we spend one-third of our lives at work and another one-third sleeping. If we take the sleeping part out then fifty percent or more of our lives are spent at work. This is a major chunk of your life so I feel that if you make that fun that’s what keeps people motivated. We celebrate every occasion together, whether it is a birthday, a festival, or an event. I feel that while partying or going out, other than good

food, conversation on different projects is something that tickles the pickle of your brain which is important. My employees are not just employees but my friends too. I know them personally and understand some of their personal problems as well so that creates a different bond. I am able to empathise with them and that helps in bringing new enthusiasm in my employees to work as we try hard to be on the same page together.

10.PLEASE SHED SOME LIGHT ON THE RECOGNITIONS AND ACCOLADES YOU’VE RECEIVED SO FAR.

I always believed in working hard, giving my best shot and then living that up. I never focus on running behind success but instead always aspire to deliver my best. In that race, one thing I have learned is not to give up and keep following my passion. This really helped me in receiving recognition and awards nationally and globally. It’s been a long way..still gives me goosebumps from getting recognised at Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival to see my short film poster of “I am Arbor” displayed in Times Square, New york.

Our company has received dozens of awards and nominations worldwide including Madrid International Film Festival 2018, Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival 2018, London Independent Film Awards, Paris Lift-Off Film Festival, etc.

Apart from films, our music videos - The One, Mastermind and L.A.W. won many national and international awards post their worldwide release. ‘The One’ won L’age D’or International Arthouse Film Festival, World Film Carnival, Singapore, and several other awards.

L.A.W. won the award in both Best Music Video and Best Special Effects categories in New Age Cinemas & Scripts Screening Festival, Best Music Video award in 43rd monthly Cult Critic Movie Awards and Best Visual Effects Award in New York

Onset training program

Team bonding, Celebrating Halloween

Shooting amid pandemic

12. AS A YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR, WHAT DO YOU ASPIRE TO ACCOMPLISH, AND WHAT ARE THE PEARLS OF WISDOM YOU HAVE FOR THE YOUNG MINDS AND READERS OF OUR MAGAZINE? There are certain things that I aspire to accomplish. I would like to show people the story that they have never witnessed in their entire life. I aim to break the realm of reality, to break all taboos of society, to showcase that not everything is black and white, to show that every little thing in life is beautiful and to show that no human being is bad through my films. Nobody is born bad, only their deeds are. What I mean here is that the villain is not always wrong. Sometimes I want to show my audience that I support the villain in a film. So I only want to show reality through my films.

I am only 29 years old, so I don’t have much wisdom to give but whatever I have I would say that I always live in the moment. Enjoy people close to you. Keep your circle small but real. Do the work that you love and love what you do. I understand that money is important but always try to find your love and passion in whatever you do. Even when you hate it, find something positive in it. And most importantly, never forget to make some time to embrace and enjoy little things in the journey. All the best to you all!

Let’s make today!

International Film Awards in 2021. While awards make us proud, the most fascinating thing is that we remain motivated and we remain fired-up with our vision. The recognition adds fuel to this fire.

11. WE ARE EAGER TO HEAR ABOUT THE COMPANY’S FUTURE PROJECTS. CAN YOU PLEASE SHARE WITH OUR READERS WHAT NEW THAT’S BREWING?

We’re brewing and nearly finished our first web series project. We’re just giving a few finishing touches to it. It’s a different kind of web series that will undoubtedly serve as a soothing menu on the platter. I believe my web series will be for the Indian market as we venture into the realm of animation. It is a sports drama that will inspire and motivate young people. Definitely paving the way for the creation of more exciting content for the youth. Besides this, we are also working on several short films that you will soon indulge in. We are simultaneously working on a semifeature film. In addition, more music videos will be added to our project list this year. We are also on the verge of launching a full-fledged online academy to teach people who want to be filmmakers, mainly focusing on topics like how to create and make films profitable through the grammar of filmmaking.

Laurels received by AAJ

Feats achieved by AAJ

India is a vast country being run by young guns comprising more than two-third of the entire population. These blossoming minds have become source of innovations to usher whole new world of comfort and sustenance. Our lives have become quite easier due to endeavors of many such millennial. They keep coming with out-of-the-box concepts to bring solution to some of the most complicated problems.

Ritesh Agarwal Founder of OYO Rooms

We are well aware of OYO rooms that pioneered the concept of affordable BnB (Bed & Breakfast) rooms that sums up to thousands of rooms spread across a network of more than five hundred hotels. OYO is not an owner of any hotel; rather, it makes partnership with numerous hotels and gets hold of some rooms to be given out to people looking to avail OYO services. It focuses on standardizing the hotels in the non-branded hospitality sector. Oyo rooms are a very successful venture as it has managed to solve the issue of affordability, cleanliness and availability of budget hotels across all Tiers-I and Tier-II cities in the country.

Ritesh Agarwal, the founder of the company, is really an inspiration for millions of budding entrepreneurs. Being 23 years old, it takes extraordinary skills and talent to earn accolades, that he has quite successfully gained. Coming from a down-to-earth family in Cuttack, his journey to the zenith of success has hardly been a smooth one. Despite living in an era of startups, he had to face a multitude of obstacles in order to make his unconventional idea work. The hardships of years eventually paid well. He gained a lot of success by understanding business needs and building something that people want. It’s not always easy to get a start up funded. A new wave of venture capitalism has helped burgeoning entrepreneurs like Ritesh to explore their entrepreneurial avenues. There is no more a need to travel to Silicon Valley.

To pursue his passion of becoming an entrepreneur, he enrolled into Indian School of Business & Finance, Delhi but left college mid-way to start his own company. He was hesitant about his decision but from the beginning was very clear about what he wanted to do and took some tough choices to accomplish his dreams. He measured the corners of the country and during such travels, discovered the problem with budget hotels. At the age of 17, he launched Oravel travels, modeled after Airbnb, which later branched out to become OYO rooms. Soon he discovered that the problem with budget hotels was bigger than just availability, so, to counter other issues, he launched OYO.The very year he launched Oravel travels, he was nominated for the Thiel fellowship. The fellowship is designed by Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal and provided a college drop-out, less than 22 years of age, a sum of $100,000 to pursue a start-up dream. Needless to say, he’s the only Indian to receive it.

RESHAMANDI Impactful Technology to Build the New Silk Route for India

Mehak Malhotra | Business Connect

The Indian silk industry is considered one of the largest revenue generators for the country accounting for 5% of the GDP. India is renowned to be the second-largest silk-producing nation worldwide. However, there are a few shortcomings of the industry like price fluctuations, lack of storage, high cost of production, and lack of awareness about the market trends in rural areas. To that effect, oftentimes our farmers end up bearing heavy prices. To address this plight, we are going to highlight the first technology-driven organization in India, established with a motto to serve the sericulture industry with ease and revised techniques.

ReshaMandi is India’s first agritech startup progressively digitalizing the country’s silk supply chain with a drive to improve silk production and deliver optimum quality. Reducing the import of foreign silk and providing economic rates with an escalated demand, is one of the foremost goals of the company. The venture is a grassroots-level enabler working directly with sericulture farmers, fabric weavers, silk reelers, and retailers eliminating their amount of time misspent in the market. They are embellishing AI & IoT techniques to lead a remarkable ecosystem for silk production right from farmers to consumers. From securing an astonishing name in the “30 Startups To Watch” to being awarded for “The Best Emerging Social Enterprise of 2020” by Business Mint, the company has taken the sericulture industry to a new benchmark. The entire team of ReshaMandi has a customary vision to make India Atmanirbhar when it comes to the silk terrain. After getting into a deep analysis of the market, they have ascertained the loopholes of supply chain management and are persistently working to overcome the same.

ReshaMandi has a strong clientele spread across the entire supply chain like Chawki Rearing centers producing the eggs of silkworms. The company executes by procuring the silk production directly from farmers and facilitate them to the government mandis. They work with the mulberry farmers supplying mulberry

MAYANK TIWARI Founder & CEO

leaves to the silk farmers. The team provides a guarantee of premium quality enabling a higher quality yarn for weavers. This is implemented by testing at regular intervals of the supply chain. Once the weavers are ready with their product, the company provides them with market linkages to the retailers. The remarkable venture has its retail brand under the name “Amraii”, helping small and medium players in this field to acquire a bigger market coverage.

AN INTELLECT WITH A MISSION

The Founder and CEO of ReshaMandi, Mayank Tiwari was the brains behind the incredible zest to dive into the sericulture industry and launch the first-ever technology-driven platform to amplify India’s silk supply chain management. He is a NIFT gold medallist graduate in fashion technology, specializing in apparel technology, with rich and cross-domain expertise of 13 years. From retail, e-commerce to lean manufacturing, Mayank hails from quite a diversified background. He leads the organization at the forefront. Presently, the man is centralizing his priority to ameliorate the livelihood of rural and other financially weaker sections of the society. Acquiring deep knowledge in sales, marketing, and operations management, he has worked for notable organizations. Previously, Mayank has created a cluster of artisans selling to businesses. He has been instrumental in launching some of the largest homegrown e-commerce and banking apps.

Besides, the founder also engages with various startup ventures and SME’s with a sheer motive to help them shape a focused GTM strategy and charting a successful product story. He has been recognized as “The 10 Best Leaders from Agriculture Technology 2021” by CIO Insider magazine.

PROFICIENT KEY OFFICIALS

Along with Mayank, there are two important pillars behind the evolution of the company. They are no less and certainly regarded to be mentioned, The Co-founder and CTO, Saurabh Agarwal, and the Co-Founder and CBO, Utkarsh Apoorva. The men have equally supported the rise of this venture. Let us take a glimpse at their work profile :

• Saurabh Agarwal is the Co-founder and CTO of ReshaMandi, India’s first and only silk agritech startup. Saurabh has worked in the area of deep technology, software architecture, innovation, and deployment for most of his career and has over 15 years of experience in the field. He has a passion to build software that solves innate customer problems using technology stacks that suit the needs. He specializes in building cloud technologies, microservices-based horizontally scalable back-ends, distributed RESTful services & highly interactive web-based user experiences. Saurabh brings this depth of varied experience to build all the technology that is powering ReshaMandi. His vision is to empower & impact ~5 million silk farmers in India while impacting millions more on the way with technology and digitization of the silk supply chain. ReshaMandi’s calling has been so strong for Saurabh that after 5 years in the USA he moved back to India to run technology at ReshaMandi to build in India for India. Saurabh started his journey in software development with CGI Information Systems wherein he was instrumental in building a multimillion dollar financial platform for credit unions in the USA. At CISCO he helped create large-scale network management software, architected & innovated a new product line based on Zero-Conf mDNS technologies, won various hackathons, and built SDN Controllers. Saurabh also created the industry’s first OpenFlow compliant wireless controller for network trafficking at his earlier stint of founding a company called {SDN}Geeks. He has worked with leading brands such as CISCO Systems India, CISCO US, Meru Networks & Nivel Solutions. More recently he is intrigued by machine learning & artificial intelligence, which remains his work interest at ReshaMandi as well.

Saurabh holds a B.Tech degree from the prestigious College of Engineering Roorkee in the year 2006. Beyond his corporate life, he takes a keen interest in reading about human evolution, psychology & behavioral development. In his free time, you will most likely find him building something with LEGO’s with his 6-year-old son.

• Utkarsh Apoorva is the Co-founder and CBO of ReshaMandi, India’s first and only silk agritech startup. With over 11 years of exceptional and varied experience, Utkarsh looks after Product and Business Growth at Reshamandi. With a vision to reach out to the remotest parts of India’s vast natural fibers market, he works closely with all stakeholders of the supply chain, from the smallest farmers to the largest retailers in Silk. Utkarsh has co-founded multiple cutting-edge startups such as HandyTrain - an AI-driven mobile training solution, Clusto - an AI-driven productivity suite, GuitarStreet - India’s first online store for Musical Instruments, and EduLabs - a smart learning solution for rural India. He has deep expertise in User Psychology, Product Management, Artificial Intelligence, B2B, eCommerce, and EdTech. His unique leadership qualities have been instrumental in driving innovation across the organizations he has worked for, resulting in aggressive growth targets being achieved efficiently. Utkarsh holds a B.Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and holds a patent on AI. A guitarist and a family man, Utkarsh lives life by the philosophy of ‘whatever it takes.

SAURABH AGARWAL Co-founder & CTO

WALKING THROUGH THE INCEPTION

When three old friends sat together for a cup of tea, who knew they are about to make one of the bravest and most inspiring decisions of their lives. It all started when Mayank realized his keen interest in fabric and weaving. Hailing from a NIFT background, he had a rich knowledge of the industry and took belief in the ever-growing demand for silk in India. Be it production for the products, yarns, or sarees draping millions of beautiful women of the country. To begin the astounding journey, Mayank started reaching out to the silk farmers of Karnataka. He took a research trip to Ramanagara, the silk capital of India, and associated himself directly with the farmers for around 2 weeks. He helped them expand their market links and promised to give the best price for their production. Gradually, he observed the need to advance a technological platform to empower the farmers. There came in the tech-mogul and Co-Founder Saurabh Agarwal. As soon as Mayank presented his visionary model to him, he was exhilarated to join the project. He gave phenomenal insights to expand the reach to farmers. The idea was so captivating to Saurabh that he relocated to India and deep-dived into the ecosystem himself, accompanying Mayank on his daily trips to meet farmers.

ReshaMandi begins its first procurement in Sarjapur, on the outskirts of Bangalore. Modhushing Mahanta, another inspiration, was the first employee of the company. Formerly, Modhu was a local vendor running a tea stall for a living. Watching him lose his source of income during the hard-hitting repercussions of the global pandemic, Mayank hired him to run the center. With his diligence in work, Modhu is now the Cluster Manager for South Karnataka.

Successively, Uktarsh Apoorva, Co-founder, and CPO of ReshaMandi entered the frame. He was a serial entrepreneur with a fortune background of accomplishments. He took the responsibility of developing a product that can reach silk farmers widely. Besides, he is persistent to run efficacious marketing campaigns and activities for farmers.

The firm experienced massive growth with each passing day. From a small room in HSR layout to WeWork premises in Bellandur and elevating the family to more than 100 employees, ReshaMandi evolved. Mayank, Saurabh, and Utkarsh never saw their mere catch-up over a cup of tea turning into an impactful and magnificent venture.

LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO RISE

Technology is the foremost pillar of emergence for ReshaMandi. The organization came into existence with the chief motive to leverage technology for

upsurging the flexibility of silk production for farmers. Thereby, it is certain to mention that synchronizing with the changing technology is imperative for the company. They operate on technical knowledge to support the sericulture industry. It holds the utmost importance for farmers to ameliorate their market linkages, grab a strong hand on inputs like Chandrike which is required for cocoon development, fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides at a low rate. The team tracks humidity, temperature, water content, and soil quality by deploying IoT devices in silkworm rearing sheds and Mulberry plantations. Eventually, the inputs and corrective measures to take are directly shared with farmers through a text message. This favorably results in laying a sound impact on the yield in terms of quality and quantity.

Keeping up with research and development also plays a vital role to comprehend market issues, crop health, the prevalence of diseases, and

UTKARSH APOORVA Co-Founder & CBO

other concerns. The company inevitably takes care of this predicament. The team works closely with scientists and government officials to adapt reformed approaches that can control the potential issues. They also progressively work to bring in solutions to deploy at the ground level.

THE COMPANY’S OUTGROWING SCALABILITY

“Our farmers are our marketers”, believe the leaders of the company. The team has built healthy and staunch relationships with farmers encircling faith and positivity. Seeking assistance and credible results by indulging with ReshaMandi, the farmers spread the word through their personal experience. Farmers vouching for the firm lays tenfold more impression than the employees themselves. The benefits of working with them, and how the company is revamping its quality of life are plentiful to imply an optimistic outlook. Efficient work and prolific outputs are the greatest marketing strategies one can execute.

Over and above, the venture runs targeted campaigns through various online and offline platforms to reach the target audience. The team also conducts educational workshops that are informative to the farmers. All these measures taken by the leaders and their exceptional team have accomplished tremendous successes for the company.

NURTURING AUSPICIOUSNESS

In every organization, it is essential to nourish a coherent work environment for the employees. While the world was confronting the hardships of the global pandemic where thousands of innocent people lost their source of income, ReshaMandi came as a vibrant ray of hope and began to help them. More than half of the population contributing to the company hail from a sericulture background. Consequently, the concept of the business is captivating to them. They take pride in the work and the journey of transforming the layout of silk production in India. The leaders also consider their valuable efforts and leave no stone unturned in keeping the teammates happy and secure. They offer a 50% higher salary

than the minimum wage defined by the government. They are also awarded attractive incentives to encourage their work productivity. With ReshaMandi, the average income improvement for rural employees has hiked over 300%. Just as importantly, the company organizes timely R&R to honor the spirit of everyone who contributes to the ascendancy.

PURPOSEFUL FUTURE PURSUIT

ReshaMandi is forging towards the path of making India, Atmanirbhar in the production of silk. It is only attainable by creating a flexible and vigorous supply chain, augmented by advancing technology. Launching futuristic methods in the market can take the sericulture industry to a whole new identity. The company is looking forward to extinguishing the intervention of foreign players from the Indian agricultural market. The government has taken inventory steps to boost Indian sericulture and moving parallel with them, the team aspires to perceive fruitful outcomes.

RESTRUCTURING STRATEGIES

BARS & RESTAURANTS ADAPTING THE NEW NORMAL

Ashwathy Nair | Business Connect

As the COVID-19 disruption continues, bars and restaurants are facing historic levels of uncertainty. They are now focused on restructuring their strategies in order to ensure the health and safety of staff and customers. Bars and restaurants in India are currently facing the most difficult situation in which their future is now at stake. Although the demand for bars and restaurants have decreased, it has not ended and that seems like a light at the end of the tunnel. To get back to the normal, this industry needs to react quickly and it can only be possible for this industry to survive if they intend to cope with the ‘New Normal’.

The industry is returning slowly, however, the restaurateurs are seeking new ways to run their restaurant, which will help them to cope with the new normal and attract the masses. In such a time where people are more concerned about safety, they would like to enjoy their delicacies in a healthy atmosphere, most preferably at home. Importantly, the interest of customers are kept in mind and according to that, the restaurateurs will turn their attention to the ‘new normal’ trend. By investing in smart technologies such as contactless deliveries, online orders, takeaways, etc., social distancing standards can be assured.

With some reinvention and innovation at its height, the post-pandemic period will be entirely different. The patterns which are gaining popularity are the following

ADJUSTING THE MENU

The desperate time demands smart decisions. Considering most people are working from home, the menu that offers an all-day breakfast or brunch might help in generating more business. Similarly, offering a late-night menu that pairs up with some beverage may arouse more business. The digital menus like QR code menu can help bars and restaurants to become more agile and hygienic as it is contactless.

NUTRITIOUS DIET

The pandemic has modified the tastes of consumers for vegan diets, organic food, vegetarian food, sugarfree products, etc. More demand for such food is coming in the future as people are now more aware of their wellbeing. Restaurants will also come up with new menus that will have more food based on plants, gourmet meals, etc., which will ensure that customers are aware of the restaurants’ high-quality food standards.

TAKEAWAY MEALS

Nowadays, individuals are more interested and comfortable in ordering food online, rather than the option of visiting restaurants. Dine-in facilities are avoided as much as possible in order to prevent contacts. If people are willing to dine-in, the restaurants have come up with an idea of taking online orders, where clients can receive the menu online and can place an order via their phone. Then they are expected to take it from the counter as soon as the order is ready.

VIRTUAL KITCHEN

As an option to ease the decline in dine-in sales, the bars and restaurants are now turning into virtual kitchens that are designed to optimize and expand delivery services at nominal prices. To prepare delivery-optimized menu products, cloud kitchens are uniquely tech-enabled. Restaurants are moving online, with the rise of delivery apps like UberEats, which allows customers to order from their favourite restaurants.

For the Bars and Restaurants, it was not an easy run, as the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus and the national lockdown forced many restaurants into a devastating situation by making them stop fully.

The most realistic path forward for bars and restaurants seems to be adapting to the ‘new normal’ with some reinvention and innovative strategies in the post-pandemic period. What you need to do is continue, embrace and move on with the changing world with the new normal.

PROPAGATING 80 YEARS OF AYURVEDIC LINEAGE ACROSS THE GLOBE

Indranil Roy | Business Connect

Ayurveda, also known as the ‘Science of Healing’, is the oldest and most effective process of restoration in healthcare. India is the home of Ayurvedic knowledge. The practice has been burgeoning for more than 5,000 years, stemming from Vedic culture. Its deep presence extends to the food we eat, the water we drink. In short, it can be called a way of life. Despite India’s Ayurvedic lineage, the country has been significantly influenced, by western culture and other forms of medicine.

But with the disruptions across geographies, people are becoming conscious and seeking solutions that bring peace to their life. Perceiving the need, several industries like FMCG, Pharma have turned to natural and organic ingredients and products.

Venkatesh Anilkumar Managing Director

The present presence of Ayurveda doesn’t share itself with other forms of medicine rather it’s growing as an independent trillion dollar Health & Wellness industry. Venkatesh Anilkumar, Managing Director of Aarshaveda, shares his thoughts,

“Ayurveda is the science that links the body, mind and spirit through a single string. By being a key ingredient in several consumables, it can shape a better way of life.”

A STRONG LINEAGE

Founded on the banks of the Periyar River in Kerala, Aarshaveda is envisioned to revive the heritage of Ayurveda by integrating it with modern healthcare practices. While Aarshaveda is a young startupinitiative, it carries more than 8 decades of Ayurvedic expertise. Venkatesh is the grandson of a renowned Ayurvedacharya Dr KGK Panicker, whose influential efforts largely popularized Ayurvedic treatment across Kerala. His zeal and zest to heal people through herbal treatment made him revered across the state. In 1973, the helm was picked up by his son Dr Anil Kumar, after the demise of his father. With his passion, he fostered the establishment of a world class manufacturing facility in Kerala and multiple hospitals, clinics and resorts across India. However, with the aim of expansion the company tied-up with a venture capitalist and it was no longer a family owned business.

Venkatesh soon after his education joined and served his father’s empire as an employee. Years went by, and be it fate or destiny, Venkatesh grew up to be an embodiment of passion and zeal that his lineage carried.

TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF

After 8 years of working with the company, Venkatesh realised that he had to revive his family’s legacy. Little did he know, his struggle was soon to become an indelible option. In 2014, his new-born son was diagnosed with severe rashes, and he wasn’t able to find a proper and natural treatment for the same. Venkatesh returned to his roots, he and his father began exploring Ayurvedic products in the hope of finding a cure. His son’s skin was sensitive and required a particular oil made from Dashapushpam (ten medicinal flowers traditionally grown in ancestral homes in Kerala).While searching the market for the oil, he identified the gross ambiguity in information and dissatisfying quality due to the commercialization of Ayurveda.

Understanding the unavailability, Venkatesh decided to make the oil himself under his father’s guidance. His determination saw fortune! He synthesized a sublime prototype and tested it on his son. The astonishing results not only healed his son but, planted the idea of “Aarshaveda” in his mind as well. The oil was inarguably wholesome. He shared his idea with his family and friends. With a strong emphasis, he finally left his job at the empire once owned by his father and decided to pursue his grandfather’s vision. Venkatesh aimed to establish a venture that sells self-synthesized authentic Ayurvedic products. He sourced original and organic ingredients instead of cheap alternatives. It took him more than 6 months but, he successfully began manufacturing the Dashapushpam oil for babies and mothers in small numbers and finally, in 2015, Aarshaveda Wellness Pvt Ltd was founded.

PROPAGATING THE GOODNESS OF NATURE

While Venkatesh had exceptional products that guaranteed better health and lifestyle, he wasn’t welcomed in the market with open arms. The market was sprawling with cheap and inferior quality products. And, it became a colossal challenge convincing customers about the efficacy of the products. He fought till the last throes, but the market didn’t respond like the way he expected it to. But Venkatesh is a man of focus

and sheer will, and he wasn’t going to give up. He decided to launch his business through the e-commerce space and was welcomed by, the cloud border Amazon.

This became the cornerstone of his business. Today, Aarshaveda prides itself on its portfolio with 500+ classical medicines, 100+ proprietary Ayurvedic formulations and multiple organic products. Within 4 years from inception, Aarshaveda has scaled its revenue in Crores and is enjoying a spellbinding journey. Its products are certified by USDA and India Organics (APEDA), for they bring all the goodness of nature. Venkatesh wanted to make sure, his products are the epitome of Ayurvedic heritage.“Ayurvedic texts are the cornerstone of Ayurvedic medicine as it has been written down by great Rishis or sages for the benefits of all mankind”, explains Venkatesh. The products are detailed with Ayurvedic texts, using traditional brass and copper vessels just as in ancient times. Furthermore, the entire production process from land to the lab and then delivery is strictly monitored by 3rd party certifying bodies. They have also launched another brand, ‘Nature’s Veda’, which brings a whole new series of organic & friendly Ayurveda products. By combining heritage with intelligence and putting it into modern healthcare, Aarshaveda is ushering Ayurveda to a new era with an aim to provide a healthier lifestyle.

BUILDING A BETTER FUTURE

“I don’t want to compete with anybody. My only focus is to uphold my family’s tradition, heal people with the goodness of Ayurveda” claims Venkatesh.

Ayurveda has been passed on to generations by sages, and it was a different time when people acknowledged it for its goodness. But, in this transitioning era where we seek solutions fast solutions, we often overlook the effluents. Aarshaveda is putting all its effort to change the case. Venkatesh understands the world we live in can’t be returned to a more nourishing era. Hence, through his venture, he aims to help people sustain a healthy and peaceful life.

ADAGE AUTOMATION PVT. LTD. AN INDIAN PIONEER OF INTEGRATED GAS ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS & SERVICES

21st Century is a period of automation, advancements and innovative thinking. Using technology and ingenuity, Companies are ideating new concepts that address global impediments. But the surging global warming is an impediment yet to be mitigated. Studies reveal that emissions from factories account for more than 50% of the greenhouse gases. And an alternative to emissions is yet to be born. But what can’t be stopped - can be controlled. Technology integrators have developed Gas Analysis equipment that ensures efficient combustion reducing emissions of pollutants. Then there are safety issues for large Industries handling explosive flameable gases. And finally the product quality and process optimization also need accurate and continuous measurement of the gases.

Adage Automation Pvt. Ltd. is a pioneer of Gas Analytical solutions with-a robust presence in the global market. Headquartered in Goa, the Company homes over 200 engineers and has strong roots in 11 locations across India. Adage follows the Govt.’s Make in India philosophy and aims to mitigate the dependency in overseas imports for high end Gas Analytics solutions & Technology. Its fervid team and robust grip on technology make it a go-to provider for high-quality analyzer solutions.

A LINEAGE OF EXCELLENCE

Founded in 2001, Adage is an ISO 9001:2015 and OHSAS 18001:2007 certified Company favoured for its strong pedigree in developing customized Gas Analyzers across industries. Throughout its stint, it has amalgamated R&D and technology with intelligence to contrive trendsetting developments. Adage is the first to introduce Tuneable Diode Laser Gas Analyzer Technology to Indian Cement, Power, Steel and Fertilizer industries. They also designed one of the strongest and advanced Cement Kiln Inlet Gas Measurement Systems in the world. Its robust potential in research and technology, helps it develop a range of products from small system components to large exproof analyzer shelters with HVAC. Adage is one of the rare all-in-ones fulfilling the analytical requirements across diverse segments.

Adage’s heritage is headed, by Abhijit Chatterjee (MD & CEO), a leader with strong credentials in industrial aspects. As the mastermind, he derives his expertise from a long-standing experience and industrial edification. Under his aegis, Adage consistently strives to be a preferred brand for all its stakeholders. Walking the extra mile, it has formed an aesthetic ecosystem that engages employees to work on a common goal – creating customer delight. With R&D and innovation in its heart followed by collaborative excellence, Adage has established a PAN India

presence. It has offices in eminent cities namely Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai , Chennai , Bangalore , Hyderabad , Bhubaneswar, Jamshedpur, Vadodara, Surat and Vizag. Furthermore, Adage has grown roots in developed countries like the USA & UAE with wholly owned subsidiary companies .

FACTORS THAT GUIDES ITS GROWTH

Whether its technological integration, research or keeping the employees engaged, Adage is guided by ‘Transparency’ and ‘Trust’. Every deliverable is assured to provide optimal satisfaction that fosters trust. Contrarily, modesty among the leaders and employees ensures transparent communication which propels individual as well as organisational development. As Abhijit says,

“We are in the business of niche technology and our collaboration with a deep investment in R&D keeps us separated from the crowd”.

Angshuman Paul | Executive Director

Indranil Roy | Business Connect

The deep inclusion in R&D has helped in developing field-proven solutions With GC, NDIR, Paramagnetic, FID, TCD, UV, CLD & Laser-based Continuous Gas Analyzers & Systems for diverse industrial applications Refineries & Petrochemicals , Cement Plant Solutions, Steel Plant Solutions, Power Plant Solutions, Chemical Plant Solutions, Fertilizer Plant Solutions, and Typical Gas Conditioning System. The Company is partnered with some of the world leaders in Gas Analytical Solutions; the alliances foster new development in products & solutions . The partnerships also strengthen their industrial footprint. Adage stands pride for having clearly the largest service networks in India and one of the largest in the entire world.

STRUCTURED WITH RECEPTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Adage invests a substantial amount of resources towards technological implementations. Despite being in a niche business, Adage has global competitors that drive it to introduce new innovations. Besides the competition, technology also helps in upholding an adept quality. It has a state-of-the-factory and an attached repair centre that ensures products not only reflects customer’s needs but further exceeds them.

RRC LAB: The Repair and Calibration Centre of Adage is a technological milestone. It is here - the excellence and quality in operations, are insured. From Calibration, testing, repair to simulation trial, the Lab is fully equipped to perform everything. Adage comprehends the criticality of downtime, therefore, even if it’s a newly repaired part, it ensures it comes from a genuine OEM and backed with Adage’s standard spare parts warranty. The RRC Lab is a one-stop-hub for the entire Sub-Continent also the driving force behind Adage’s stellar stature. This is one of its kind in India .

A HARMONIZED ECOSYSTEM FOR EMPLOYEES

Since its inception, Adage has anchored its business on three core pillars: Innovation, R&D and Team Spirit . As mentioned before, Adage has a collosal team spread across diverse geographies. Nevertheless, there is an eventful and well-knitted culture that keeps the Company on a growing trajectory. Transparency and trust keep everyone integrated and responsible for their actions. The teams are constantly encouraged to attain external skills that fuel individual development. Abhijit further adds,

“Every team member has a defined path for growth and personal development. We evaluate and guide them from timeto-time so that they achieve their objective. For me at the end of the day what matters is how happy they are ”.

The flexible culture enables respect amongst team members, and everyone works the leader’s mindset. There is a complete delegation of taking independent decisions at various levels. To sum it up, Adage deeply endeavours in creating a happy work culture and happy employees. It names itself as the first in India to set up a dedicated Department of Happiness.

SERVING THE ENVIRONMENT FOR 2 DECADES

A renowned author, once said,

The rising demands for products and solutions have an integral role are surging the emissions from factories. But being in industrial emission monitoring, Adage is constantly playing a prominent role a better & greener environment. The Company

takes part in initiatives of the ‘Pollution Control Board’, and are committed to mitigating emissions in India.

ACCOLADES THAT FOSTERS THEIR REVERENCE

Through its odyssey, Adage has been applauded for upholding a major responsibility in the industry. It is conferred with the prestigious ‘India’s Small Giants Award’ in 2018, by the Ministry of Industries, Govt. of India. Adage has been conferred with many more awards in International Conferences. It is the 5 times winner of the ‘Best Success Story Award’, in the Siemens IPAC in Germany.

With such remarkable accolades, Adage foresees to stand amongst Global leaders in the domain. Within the next 3 years, the Company aims for 100% growth in terms of business revenue, competency and infrastructure.

MORAL THOUGHTS FOR NEW-AGE ENTREPRENEURS

“Dream Big like a Child can but plan meticulously like a mathematician”.

Paraphrasing his guiding statement, Abhijit says,

“While this era is excellent for entrepreneurship, one needs to plan like a masonry worker building brick-by-brick but, with speed and flexibility of a soccer player. Be committed and be brutally honest as the largest structures are built upon strongest foundations. Build block by block …never ever look out for short term returns or quick benefits. Be prepared for sacrificing comforts to build a sustainable platform to stand upon and rejoice.”

“An Entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploit as an opportunity”

Abhijit Chatterjee | Managing Director & CEO

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Ashwathy Nair | Business Connect

An erudite person can always learn from his hunger for more knowledge and the best thing he knows is that the perfect knowledge is waiting inside a book. In addition, to all of the ways of reading, it helps you develop a healthy mindset; it also makes you a better thinker and a better writer. Powerful reading for entrepreneurs of the 21st century allows them to experience other points of view and makes them a better leader for forging companies. In this article we talk about the Best Must-Read books for Entrepreneurs.

According to a successful entrepreneur - Bill Gates, he believes that reading is still the main way that he both learns new things and tests his understanding.

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, the man who never reads lives only ones.” Let us discuss the ten most admired books by Entrepreneurs of 2019.

Rand Fishkin’s book takes a refreshing outlook on the life of a super tech startup CEO. Lost & Founder, is the perfect narration of how a startup has a life as a CEO. Most of the CEOs can easily relate to pretty much every chapter of this book. They feel more connected with this book and agree on 99% of Rand’s idea. It generally talks about startups, marketing, funding, and more.

The central idea of the books pulls back the curtain from what is really like to battle for success in the startup world.

The advice from the author is sound and can be applied to any type of business, no matter the size or industry.

All In by Bill Green

For aspiring entrepreneurs of 2019, this particular book is reading on a glimpse into what it takes to go from a startup founder to CEO of a publicly-traded company.

This reading makes the entrepreneur realize that even the world’s most successful entrepreneurs once started as paper distributer and door-to-door salesmen.

Bill Green’s goal in All In is to inspire entrepreneurs and start-ups of all ages and phases to take up the challenge of a growing business with passion and joy. In All In, he provides the readers the101 Real-Life Business Lessons for Emerging Entrepreneurs. He shares 101 key insights he has gleaned over a 40-year business career that began with a flea market table.

Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin

The Achievement Habit by Dr. Bernard Roth

The Achievement Habit book for forging entrepreneurs is written by Doctor Bernard Roth, who is an engineering professor and co-founder of Stanford School. This book is his half biography and half self-help book for entrepreneurs who use the concepts of design thinking, awareness, and a bias to action to help you shape your life.

“Let people see you as human. Be real. Ask yourself, who would you rather see at your door, a friend or a door-to-door salesman?”

-Bernard Roth (Quote from -The Achievement Habit: Stop Wishing, Start Doing and Take Command of your Life)

Good to Great by Jim Collins

The Achievement Habit book aims to motive on the topic: Stop Wishing, Start Doing, and Take Command of Your Life

Jim Collins and his research team set off to find out, why ‘Good is the enemy of Great’. Over the five years, their whole team studied 28 companies and pouring over their data to find out the key determinants of success and failure.This is how the author sets off a riveting journey explaining the findings from his and his teams half a decade of research in the conquest of how to make good companies great. Generally, ‘Good to Great’ is a very rare and toughest book by Collins.

In his research, Jim Collins (the author), has found out systematic phases through which any great company goes through and lays out a framework.

The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett

One of our modern history’s most successful entrepreneur, role model, and investor Warren Buffett explains his take on everything in the book of Essays from very basic business principles to aligning high-level business skills. This skill polishes your interests with those of your investors as well.

“I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful”.

-Warren Buffett (Quote from- The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America)

This piece of work from Buffett is the most revolutionary investing book of ideas from the past thirty-five years of modern finance theory. The book is an elaborate set of ideas that establishes one simple and misleading art of investing.

AMI POLYMER PVT. LTD. AN AWARD WINNING CONOSSEIUR

FOR SILICON HOSES AND TUBES

Indranil Roy | Business Connect

Alpesh Gandhi Managing Director

The widespread use of polymers is nothing new in India. In this fast-track era, polymer products are exceedingly present across spheres. Since its enflaming intervention, from the latter half of the 20th Century, it has entered dominion after dominion, creating a strong grip. For the industrial sector, products like polymer tubes, reinforced silicone hoses, inflatable gaskets, rubber bellows play an indispensable part. While large molecules combine to form household products, its employment in industry space, is very diverse. The products ensure the efficiency of varied operations, which eventually contributes to customer satisfaction.

The 21st Century is an era of competition and has multiple brands for similar products. Hence, to construct tailored products and sustain a prolific business, industries need experts who can provide components, with the highest standards at reasonable rates. Ami Polymer Pvt. Ltd. is an indigenous leader in manufacturing and exporting Silicone Hoses, Silicone Tubes in India. Formed in 1996, Ami Polymer serves a PAN India client base across diverse sectors from Pharmaceutical, Biotech, Food Processing, Plastic Industries, Medical, Solar, Aerospace, Engineering, Textile, Steel, and more.

GAUGING AN ODYSSEY TO GLORY

The remarkable journey of Ami Polymer is shouldered by, an enormous team of over people, under the aegis of Alpesh Gandhi, Managing Director. Despite not having a business background, Alpesh had a dream to structure a foundation that grows into a pioneer in the Indian Inc. His parents were teachers, but for him, mediocrity wasn’t the limit. Alpesh completed his engineering in Rubber technology from LD College of Engineering, Ahmedabad and started his professional journey by serving various ventures. However, his drive to build his own foundation quickly made his foray to better opportunities. Hailing from Gujarat, Alpesh shifted to Mumbai, which eventually became his steppingstone.

Coming to Mumbai, he realized accomplishing MBA will be an added benefit to his career. He did several trading businesses, to financially support his education and also for some extra income; This, trading ventures gradually forged his road to entrepreneurial growth. Alpesh gauged his career in the silicone rubber facet with a meagre investment of Rs 13,000. He then rented a small gala, where he set up his manufacturing unit and started building his team - from 1 to 10 and now over 300. A clear focus on his ultimate goal and experience as a trader gave him the push to grow as a manufacturer of silicone rubber products. Ami Polymer’s acclaimed products include Imapure (Platinum Cured Silicone Transparent Tube), Imaprene (Thermoplastic Elastomer Tube), Imaweld (Heat Sealable and Weldable Tube), Imavac (Platinum Cured Silicone hose reinforced with SS316 helical wire), Imavacfit (Platinum Cured Silicone hose reinforced with polyester braiding & SS316 helical wire), Imawrap (Platinum cured silicone hose reinforced with 2 to 3 ply of polyester fabric & SS316 helical wire), Imaseal (Silicone Inflatable Seals & Gaskets) and extruded profile’s (200+ Customized products). Working on his motivation, he built diverse pipelines for Ami

Polymer, earning several milestones. The Company has formed distribution pipelines across India and countries like the US, UK, Korea, Japan, and Gulf nations.

CLEANROOM FACILITIES – A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH

In 2011, Ami Polymer had a major breakthrough, with the introduction of cleanroom facilities (Class 10000). The hoses and tubes are used by, critical sectors like pharmaceutical and medicines, which requires extra caution. The cleanrooms facilitated a sanitized environment – free of all kinds of contaminants and ensured smooth manufacturing of these sensitive products. The installation of cleanrooms in the factory helped in improving trust with customers. Many indigenous companies that imported from global exporters like the US and UK turned their attention to Ami Polymer. Ami Polymer has developed two manufacturing units in-built with cleanroom facilities and has around 25,000 tones production capacity.

SHOWERED WITH MILESTONES

During the early days of endeavour, one of Alpesh’s consultants asked him about his future goals and he replied casually 10 Crore! But later on, he became very serious and dedicated to it. Transforming his dedication to action, he attained a turnover of Rs 10 Cr in 2010. In the following years, it homed many more landmarks. Recently in 2020, the firm was conferred with, the ‘Best MSME of the Year 2020’ award through Honorable Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari. During the pandemic, Ami Polymer upheld its credibility and was titled ‘Hero during the time of COVID-19’, by one of the prestigious customers. In the same year, the Company also homed ‘Emerging Company Award 2020’, by Indian Achievers Forum.

Along with awards, Ami Polymer has banked a turnover of Rs 56 Cr and burgeoning to reach Rs 100 Cr very soon. The Company is also accredited by, several quality standard certifications such as CRISIL MSE * 2 for high financial strength and optimal operating performance. ASSOCHAM India has honoured Ami Polymer with the title of ‘Top 50 Companies of 2016’, for its unmatched excellence.

THE ROAD AHEAD

With more than a generation of experience marked by, excellence and trust, Alpesh is working on his dream of building a world-class business empire and an annual turn over of Rs 155 Cr. Like he turned his past dreams into reality, Alpesh has dedicated his heart and soul to shape this dream. Ami Polymer has also started a new project with an area of 3 acres in the outskirts of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which will be an addition to its collection of milestones soon.

“The ability to dream more and transcend boundaries is born from the belief that you can do more”.

Health trends that are going to be winners

Ashwathy Nair | Business Connect

Health is a topic that everyone likes to explore as much as one can. After all, who does not want to look fit and hale & hearty? In recent times, the awareness of millennial and budding entrepreneurs has shown an upward trend. This has opened gate of opportunities for burgeoning entrepreneurs to usher ideas that could help people in staying on top of the world. Of late, a new wave of revolutionary concepts has added colors to the monotonous and dull healthcare industry. Let’s have a look at some of those upcoming healthy options. Business Connect magazine makes sure that in a life full of hustle and bustle; our readers don’t miss out on latest trends related to their health also, apart from the Business world. This is the unique feature of the most promising business magazine in India.

Moringa

It is known as the one of the most powerful inflammation fighter. Apart from this, it is called the “world’s most useful tree” by scientists. It contains twice the protein of spinach and three times as much iron. Moreover, it contains impressive amounts of calcium, potassium, and vitamin A. Its seeds are slightly sweet and its ground leaves are nutty and grassy like tea. Food companies are adding it into everything from nutrition bars and protein powders to juices.

Bringing the fitness studio home

Engaging, online classes streamed to your devices are a logical play for fitness brands, considering they can really increase the reach of the hottest fitness talent more than studios can alone. Trainerled audio workouts (running, strength training, yoga, pre-natal sessions more)are set to killer playlists . The global digital-fitness market is expected to reach an estimated $27.4 billion by 2022 and is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of of 33 percent from 2017 to 2022. The virtual-reality workouts might just be your next Prime benefit.

Skin care from the tech world and pollution

There are companies working for the betterment of skin by providing Skin-barrier supporting & microbiomeenhancing serums. It helps fuel optimal skin function and, of course, a healthy glow.

For this, ingredients like lipids, ceramides, adaptogens, and even live bacteria are used to help fortify your skin’s natural functioning, so it can do its thing—and be your first natural line of defense against technology and the pollutants of the modern world.

Women

are using technology to fast-track birth control access

Reproductive health space is being disrupted by women-founded startups focused on getting health access into the hands of women. This is bringing women’s health out of the shadows.

Eduplex Solutions (ESPL)

Where excellence is effortless…

& international repute and has represented India in Junior Asian Gymnastics championship at New Delhi, in 1991. Moreover, she has been a National Junior Champion Gymnast in 1989.

Incepted in the year 2013 by a group of professionals with enriched MNC experience, Eduplex Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (ESPL) began its fascinating journey to emerge out as an outstanding institution instead of being just a business entity. Intervening in the education space, it gradually migrated to Managed Services, Consulting and IT Projects, particularly into ‘Digitization’, keeping abreast of the dynamic changes in the business scenario.

ESPL is a part of the unique initiative, Start-up India, UDYAM, also supported by National Skill Management. So far, it has ensured a firm PAN India presence and is operating from 23 different locations with 120+ experienced individuals and associated partners.

Fundamentally, the phenomenal enterprise operates in two distinct domains‘Managed Services’ and ‘Projects’. In terms of ‘Managed Services’, they provide solutions like HR & Payroll processing, Skill Supplement, Consulting for Start-up / Pilot, Operation Management etc. The organization is also providing Field and Resident Engineer Support as well as providing Training & Education facility for engineering and general students.

In regard with the ‘Projects’, ESPL has an excellent expertise in providing end-toend solutions on the digitization process for its esteemed customer- base.

MEET THE BRAINS BEHIND ESPL

Being the leading face of ESPL, Mr. Arobindu Basu (Founder Director & CEO) is taking it to greater heights with his 32 years of enriched industry experience, from his earlier association with DEC, Nokia, Compaq, HP, IBM etc. He is a wellrenowned name in the space of Corporate Governance, Project Management and Entrepreneurship.

In his vision to establish an entrepreneurial venture of his own, Dr Debasish Ghosh–an eminent UK-based Surgeon– joined Mr Basu as a co-Founder of the organization. At present, he is leading as the Chairman of the company.

Since the inception of the institution, Ms. Sumana Halder is at the helm of Managed Services as ‘Country Manager’. She is a well-reckoned sports person with national

A Post-Graduate in Operation Research–Mr. Subrata Majumder– joined the organization with his wealth of experience by working with companies like BOC Ltd., J. Thomas & Co., CTTA etc. At ESPL, he is holding the fort of ‘Projects vertical’.

The prominence ensured by the company at its niche domain, has been the endresult of the ceaseless efforts made by these erudite personalities only.

VALUES THAT SPEAK PROBITY

ESPL was established with the extraordinary vision to emerge as a leading name in IT- enabled service & knowledge-based market by infusing their core values enriched with “Integrity” , “Empathy” and “Excellence”. In this dynamically changing world, they aspire to create a difference in numerous ways. In this direction, the company has adopted an unique initiative of code name- J21 and created an exemplary roadmap till 2025. To drive this outstanding transformation, they have built a specialized task force.

ESPL always reckons that its success is the result of its inbuilt integrity in the character of the company. It constantly strives for truthful behaviour, actions and responsibilities. Moreover, they believe empathy towards peers, partners, customers and society, while ensuring excellence in the business operation, is the key to a thumping success.

Arobindu Basu | Director Kajal Dobhal | Business Connect

STANDING APART FROM THE REST

Today, the niche market is driven by a costsensitive client-base that sometimes suffer due to a lack of awareness related to quality needs. In terms of their sales proposition and project governance process, their effective engagement with the clientele begins by inclining the proposed solutions as per their needs. What comes as the outcome of this unique approach is zero compromise on quality, scope, time and cost on part of both the parties. Nevertheless, they are offering a competitive yet quality solutions to the niche industry.

“We create champions in our domain and they act as an ambassador whether they are with us or in a different organization. Thus, we ensure that as a whole the nation, the society and world is benefitted along with our success,” quotes Mr. Arobindu Basu.

When asked about the uniqueness of their business model, they stated that their clear divergence of onsite and offsite activities is their key distinguisher. They drive any implementation with two different focuses while integrating those by their PMO as a nodal. This unique approach ensures independent task completion under aspired time duration.

“This model has worked for us in ‘Black Swan’ like situation of COVID-19. We could engage all our people by this method during the lockdown, ensuring business continuity through our remote management infrastructure,” asserts Dr. Debasish Ghosh.

And talking about the synergy with the tech advancements, they have some in-house developed online tools & applications to support their operations. They also keep upgrading these tools as per the market trends and leveraging the latest hardware tools for their ongoing projects. As being an ISO 9001, 27001 & 20000-1 certified company, it has a technology refresh policy that ensures mandatory tools up gradation every three years.

CULTURE NURTURING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

ESPL is an institution that firmly promotes skill development as an integral part of its work culture. At the company, the employees are always trained with the help of top-notch technical & soft skill programs regularly. Individuals under the management parasol are regularly offered with management level trainings from reputed institutes like IIMs. Furthermore, the company has granted its workforce with an ‘interest free loan policy’ for training and skill development (including gadgets required for the same). Such steps towards propagating the growth of the employees by the company are commendably inspirational.

And over a period of time, they have implemented a culture with a perfect blend of professionalism

and flexibility at its core. ESPL believes in ensuring effective support to its employees in the best possible manner.

“We believe in creating a bond among our people and have created a virtual club ‘CONSOCIATE’ to celebrate various events and stay connected,” cites Mr. Subrata Majumder.

GLIMPSES OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR

Scaling the heights of thumping success, the company has crossed numerous milestones. Be it digitalizing 25 Cr+ pages in 5 years or attaining 92.8% customer satisfaction survey rating, their excellence and relevance is turning heads in the industry. So far, ESPL has received winner of MSME Award 2020-21 in service category from ‘Bengal Chamber of Commerce’ and an appreciation letter from Honorable Ministry of Women & Child Development, GOI – Mrs. Menaka Sanjay Gandhi. And in the same direction, the company has also been ranked one among India’s 500 Most Promising IT companies, 2021.

INCESSANT INDULGENCE IN CSR ACTIVITIES

In terms of empowering the women folks from rural areas, Eduplex Solutions has conducted a prestigious training program at Jamshedpur on ‘Digitization Skill Development for rural women in 2015’. Moreover, it has been associated with the “BACHPAN BANCHAO ANDOLAN” that started in 1980 by Nobel Peace Laureate Mr. Kailash Satyarthi, and is India’s largest movement towards child-protections activities.

The dedication to serving the society is not just restricted to this, they are also ensuring e-Training to students across India.

“ESPL participated a voluntary online training in collaboration of Relearn Institute to train “Basic Electronics” to 48 students across INDIA. The training was delivered over google meet for students in the age group of 10 – 16 years. The concepts of basic electronics, application of electronics and concepts of IoT (Internet of Things) were explained to them. The students from the furthest corner of Nagaland participated in this training,” reveals Ms. Sumana Halder.

Soon, ESPL is about to venture into diverse segments like Healthcare sectors & IOTs. As the company foresees a bright and blazing future ahead, it desires to bring on board all the stakeholders to drive its business till 2025 and become a leading player in the relevant industrial space.

WORDS TO CONVEY BY TEAM ESPL

“It needs guts to be an entrepreneur. Listen to everyone but do whatever your heart wishes & as per your gut feelings! Conflict resolution is a part of the process and choose the simplest option because all good things in life are simple. Create quality, process and skill from the very beginning; You need to be different from others. All stakeholders must see value in you and hence make them believe in your vision. It comes from your conviction in yourself only. Rest will follow.”

Where credible technologies make smart spaces Four Corners Technologies Pvt Ltd.

Mehak Malhotra | Business Connect

With technology seeping into every aspect of human life, we cannot deny its dominance in the upcoming years. From smartphones to televisions, soon humans will rely upon smart living spaces. Four Corners Technologies Pvt Ltd. Also known as (4CT) is an esteemed firm with the endeavor to make the human aspiration of dwelling in smart buildings come true.

A well- reckoned Internet of Things (IoT) solutions firm, 4CT has emerged as a reliable technology platform for building smart spaces. Fundamentally, it converges all the efforts on developing solutions that can enable smarter living- spaces where futuristic technologies can be utilized in the BAT platform. 4CT Building Automation Technologies (4BAT) has been a network of digital technologies that bridges building services while monitoring, analyzing, and controlling the operations without any human intervention.

Under its service parasol, the firm has been proffering Real Estate Optimization, Smart Lighting, Emergency Surveillance, Feedback Management, Predictive Maintenance, People Tracking, Equipment Tracking, Meeting Rooms, HVAC and a lot more.

Owing to its world-class services, the company envisions delivering 360° user experience by connecting the analog and digital world via IoT under the same roof. Under the aegis of Madhusudhan Rao K (Managing Director), 4CT is reaching greater heights and turning tides in their favor.

VALUE-DRIVEN APPROACH

Quality, innovation, seamless technology, empowerment, and the adapt and alter approach has been a priority ever since 4CT came into existence. What keeps their spirits high is the zeal to connect the dots that offer an enhanced customer experience. All of which elicit a pragmatic perception of the company that instigates a dynamic workflow and improved services.

To provide a few optimal and tailor-made solutions in favor of its clients, team 4CT dives into the facility that requires modification. Their customized concepts ensure a holistic experience to develop green buildings for the procreation of a safe work ecosystem that has a world-class, energy-efficient system that integrates Digital Sensor-based solutions. The facilities developed by them capture and combine different streams of data to enhance the end-user experience.

GETTING AHEAD OF THE GAME

Enriched with an excellent, economical and practical strategy, 4CT effectively ensures value-added services to its diverse clientele by offering minimum capital, huge manpower, and affordable quality material.

Such an adept approach by 4CT is both efficient and economical for post-formation maintenance. Keeping innovation and empowerment at the core of its operations, its adaptive concepts

MADHUSUDHAN RAO K | Director

allow the designing of client-oriented unequaled solutions. Furthermore, the company’s unique business model is a perfect example of how they create, deliver, and adapt values in social as well as economical context. To them, this strategy itself is the business model innovation!

A GLANCE OVER ITS VALUE-ADDITIVE PROPOSITIONS

Undoubtedly, their value-added propositions have been setting benchmarks in the relevant industry owing to their uniqueness and relevance. IoT, IT, AV, and IBMs are some of their most value-adding propositions. From the range of such exclusionary products, Workspace Management System has become a prominent choice to consider. It is the wireless, sensor-based workspace that gives it a competitive edge. It ensures centralized workspace management that can be accessed via Portal, Kiosk & Mobile. Not to forget, the ease of use it offers by using visualization techniques and comparative analysis of space utilization making it a preferred choice among clients.

PERCEPTION OF TECHNOLOGY

According to Madhusudhan Rao, technological improvements are not independent developments, rather, an enhancement of the existing technology while adding new versions. He believes there should be a sustainable way to incorporate modern technologies, mainly by technological improvements. This scenario needs to be acknowledged well to derive maximum benefit from the technologies that we witness around us.

SIGNIFICANCE OF R&D

4CT is now presenting the one-stop App that can assist businesses to sail through this calamity with ease. Our latest offering is the Smart Digi Build (SDB) Portal/App that lets you ward off the viruses at your workplace. The Smart Digi Build (SDB) Portal/ App can update you with hygiene measurements, Meeting Room Cluster Warning, Social Distancing Alerts, People Tracking, Thermal Scanners, Hygiene Monitoring, Building Secure Tracking, Face Recognition Alerts, Pantry Services Integration, Restroom Management System and much more.

DIVERSE DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

4CT ensures its workforce with numerous flourishing opportunities for professional as well as personal development. Be it their Learning Management System (LMS), that is a scalable solution for enhanced employee growth or real-time feedback that ensures improvements in real-time and not just during annual reviews to avoid delays.

Moreover, in the same direction, the Company provides rewards, recognition, and awards to best performers that instill a sense of healthy competition. The management always strives to identify skills and provide appropriate mentoring and coaching programs for each individual, to help them to grow in leaps and bounds.

In terms of work culture, the employees always sync with the values put forth by the Company that has been their secret sauce to exemplary success. Every employee is always ‘in the know’ that outstanding performances will always be fairly rewarded. Thereby, every individual aspires to ensure extraordinary performances.

Furthermore, the MD believes that HR plays an instrumental role in holding the fort of successful work culture at 4CT. Be it selection or recruitment of the candidates, the HR team always develops orientation, performance Management progress, and training that outlines the company’s core values while ensuring the employees with relevant recognitions that they truly deserve.

GLIMPSES OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOLADES

4CT has become an eminent name in the industry owing to its state-of-the-art service portfolio. So far, it has received a Certificate of Appreciation in the 12th Edition of India IoT Symposium 2019. Moreover, they have been conferred with the ‘Fastest Growing Indian Company Excellence Award’ –11th International Achievers Conference, Bangkok, 2018. As its thumping success effectively grabbed eyeballs across the globe, 4CT has been conferred with ‘Best IoT Start-ups in Bangalore’ by Silicon IndiaStart-upcity 10 Best IOT STARTUPS, Bangalore – 2019.

ABOUT THE CSR ACTIVITIES

The Company avidly takes part in CSR activities where it encourages and nurtures the talent and skills of disabled children to help them pursue their dreams. Every year, Team 4CT utilizes the paintings/drawings of such talented children in their calendars to promote their competencies that can serve as a token of appreciation and support. This unique and insightful step by the company is quite commendable.

FUTURE ENDEAVOURS

As its graph of exemplary success is escalating at a rapid pace, 4CT is planning to launch a real-time scenario for its adored clientele via online as well as monitory modes to make its services omnipotent and omnipresent! In this context, they will soon develop a sophisticated IoT with AI that brings automation into most of the spaces leading to a 360° user- experience.

A TOKEN OF ADVICE FROM THE MD’S DESK

“Challenge yourself. Do the work that you care about. Take the risk - We never know the outcome of our efforts unless we do it. Believe in yourself, manage energy, know your goals. Learn from mistakes and never back down!”

So, Beware!

With the invention of mobiles, communication is no longer an obstacle around the globe. It is the greatest revolution in the history of technology; dependency on wireless communication becomes a need of contemporary times.

Smart phone becomes an essential multi-tasking device; it has touched variant spheres of life. Online shopping, video calling, rapid transmission of messages, watching movies, the list does not stop here, it goes beyond become possible due to the availability of smart phones. On the contrary, are there only benefits of android phones? The answer to this eminent question is ‘No’, because there are numerous privacy deteriorating concerns associated with smart phones. Let’s dig into detail, what serious security issues can be caused by smart phones?

DOWNLOADING SMART APPS LEADS TO LEAKAGE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Numerous applications are installed in our mobiles for varying purposes in day-to-day regime. For example game applications, cookery apps, Facebook, and Instagram apps. Have you ever thought they are the biggest threats to our security? ‘No’ because everybody in this world is entirely dependent on these applications; they are immensely enjoying the benefits of these apps.

Smartphones are smartly tracking you

Ashwathy Nair | Business Connect

When you download applications from Play store, they track your personal information like location, name, photos in gallery, your contacts, etc. which is quite dangerous to your security. Camera in smart phones capture beautiful photographs; on the other hand, it also identifies the faces in the pictures, and provides all the relevant information to the phone’s company and Google.

Unscrupulous sources can get your personal information through these applications which cause serious threats to your privacy and dignity. Gaming applications like PUBG, candy crush, etc. from the screen’s camera even track your favorite TV programs, and inform the Google for displaying similar ads as of your choice. I know it is quite surprising and jaw-dropping fact.

GPS AND SEVERE RISKS ATTACHED TO IT

GPS stands for Geosynchronous Positioning Satellite; the prominent purpose of this application in smart phones is to find out the route of a particular location. For an instance, if you wish to go from Hauz Khas to Rajiv Chowk via car, turning the GPS ON of your phone, you can easily reach to the destination by following the indicated directions. This is one of the incredible advancements in the sector of communication and technology.

If there are undeniable benefits of using GPS, then a multitude of demerits are also involved. GPS challenges a person’s security to a tremendous level which cannot be ignored.

The application works with an internet, when you turn GPS ON, then a number of malicious apps are downloaded on smart phones. These applications are constantly tracking your route, and try to know your intended destination. This leads to multiple crimes in the cities by providing all the relevant information to the undignified elements.

In fact, uploading locations on Facebook and Instagram provides imperative information to the third party like about your social circle, venue of a particular event, number of people in social gathering, etc. This is a serious concern, and some relevant steps should be taken to curb a leakage of information in order to be safe.

HOW TO STOP APPLICATIONS TRACKING YOU?

Your safety is your prime responsibility; if you use smartphones smartly then definitely you are going to be secure and safe. Now, an indispensable question arises, how can you be secure?

There are number of applications which you download; the best way to ensure privacy is to turn off the location access. In fact, uninstall all the irrelevant apps which are occupying a large space of your smart phones. These applications are accessing your personal details without letting you know, so it’s feasible to delete unwanted applications.

While watching videos on Youtube, or other channels, do not click on the ads in between. Try to skip them as they are the potent sources of security threat. Many viruses and unwanted applications can cause a serious harm. One of the renowned IT entrepreneurs in an interview with Business Connect says,” We cannot avoid smart phones, but we can be vigilant towards our security.”

A technocrat says, “If technology provides you comforts then it takes a lot from you.”

ENABLING UNINTERRUPTED POWER OPERATIONS FOR INDUSTRIES EVERYWHERE”

Here, we bring to you the success narrative of one of the top providers of power solutions for specialized engineering applications in the marine and industrial sectors- GMDT Marine & Industrial Engineering Pvt. Ltd. The Founder and MD, Darshan Thakkar sat down with us to openly converse about his thriving venture in an exclusive interview session. The organization is well acclaimed to provide full engineering services, from tendering to commissioning, according to the timeline and client specifications. Customers are placing higher demands on a trustworthy and knowledgeable partner who serves as a full-service supplier and system integrator of new and customized technological solutions. From this point forward, GMDTRepresents a number of reputable goods for the Marine & Industrial Segments.

So far, satisfying important Marine & Industrial classification society requirements with strict quality control standards, they have created a spur in the market. Every project is given the consideration it deserves and is tailored to the owners’ specifications. Their core strength is in the way they develop and set up these manufactured components to provide a holistic tailored solution for the individual project of the customer.

The product line curated by GMDT is as follows-

• Marine Switchboards and power distribution chain equipment

• Diesel Generators

• Electrical Power & Control Panels

• UPS – Uninterrupted Power Supply

• Servo Controlled Voltage Stabilizers

• Transformers

• Power & Control Cables

About the vision & mission

With a persistence to emerge as No.1 Indian power solutions

Darshan Thakkar Managing Director

across Indian as well as international markets in the Marine and Industrial segment custom build engineering products, the company has aligned its business objectives accordingly. Additionally, they are driven by a steadfast objective to effectively create, produce, and market high-quality systems around the world with a focus on customer happiness and product quality.

How did it start?

As per Darshan, he explained his entrepreneurial journey in an enticing way, “There has only ever been a desire to run a business. After viewing an entrepreneur’s success story and

Renu | Business Connect

gaining possible confidence in the ability to succeed in an academic sector. The decision to launch my own firm was made in my childhood only. I had the idea to start a firm in 2004 while I enrolled in an engineering diploma programme. I began the bachelor of engineering programme in 2007 and successfully completed it in 2011 with distinction after successfully completing my engineering diploma with distinction. I was hired as a trainee engineer at one of the top engineering industries after successfully completing my engineering. As the years passed, I gained knowledge of numerous administrative and engineering tasks that I had studied during my time as an engineer. Later assuming the roles of production engineer, quality control engineer, design engineer, and project engineer, I accumulated 5 years of extensive experience working in the same business. After such a promising experience, I considered starting my own firm with a partner. I will use my engineering knowledge in this situation, and my business partner will handle the commercial activity. I ran a partnership for around 1.5 years. I met several successful entrepreneurs and start-ups during the time I spent in this collaboration and learned a lot about technological and commercial activity as an entrepreneur. After gaining such valuable experience, I felt confident and had the idea to start my own private limited company. Consequently, GMDT was subsequently developed in 2017.”

Insights on R&D

In the inception of GMDT, R&D played a pivotal role. As per the founder, R&D is crucial for businesses since it offers insightful knowledge that can be used to improve current procedures and lower costs while also boosting productivity. In order to succeed in cutthroat markets, businesses might also create novel goods and services.

Through new features, efficiency, and usability improvements, research results in innovative goods and services. This frequently produces goods that usher in a fresh fashion. The youth of today are constantly searching for the newest fashion trend to help them stand out from the crowd. In such a climate, investing in R&D enables businesses to develop distinctive goods and gain a competitive edge, such as:

• Product differentiation strategy

• It leads to higher Revenue growth

• Enhancing Brand Image

• Increases the chances of funding

• Cross-Industry Innovation and expansion of business

Defining leadership

Darshan Thakkar has indeed a unique leadership definition which he defines as, “Think strategically and logically, organize your thoughts and demonstrate to people that you are trustworthy, sincere, and interested in them. Observe your body language. How you come across also heavily depends on your body language. Nonverbal signs that foster trust must exist.

I inspire my team members to work toward common objectives by setting an excellent example. It’s critical to understand my leadership qualities. These assist me in identifying my deficiencies and turning them into strengths, which will improve my leadership abilities.”

Noteworthy cultural principles

Work culture is a sheer indicator of the amount of success that a company would witness in its future path. The offices

of GMDT feature a flat infrastructure. This implies that staff members at any level can communicate directly with directors or senior or executive managers without having to go through intermediaries like secretaries.

This encourages a culture where everyone feels heard and not just like a cog in the system. When it comes to assisting its citizens with money management, GMDT is truly skilled. not just in the conventional sense.

In addition to giving each employee a fair wage, GMDT also has financial consultants on staff who are available to each employee. The financial specialists at GMDT have their people covered with everything from tax and debt guidance to aid managing investments. This makes it a fantastic approach to give their people more financial security.

GMDT has always been intentional about hiring people who voice out their opinions. Since everyone has a direct line of communication with the managerial level, it’s crucial that employees use this opportunity to be honest with their feedback. This is why one of the most important qualities in new hires (besides skills, of course) is the will to share honest feedback.

The business tycoon enunciates, “My job as a leader is to make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, and that they feel they’re having a meaningful impact. We recruit people who enjoy being outside, who help to maintain the culture and draw in even more people who share their interests. They are committed to the environment, the community, worklife balance, and having fun outside; they have similar interests and beliefs. And the same holds true for management.

Incentives and tangible advantages are also significant components of the mix. The business takes the initiative to meld its product with the culture.”

The future outlooks

The foremost target is to generate an annual revenue of 500Cr as per the leadership team of GMDT. Then, they wiill go with the public limited organisation.

Along with Engineering and Technology, they will enter into several verticals including port management, electric power production and transmission, renewable energy, mining, airport and railway operations, natural gas, food processing and infrastructure. Dedicated to managing this, they are targeting to employ over 300,000 people globally.

Token of advice for entrepreneurs

“Designing, developing, and managing a new firm—often a small one at first—is the process of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are those who establish these firms. According to one definition, entrepreneurship is “the ability and willingness to establish, organise, and manage a business enterprise along with any dangers therein in order to make a profit.”

Additionally, self-assurance. and being aware of what clients desire. It is simple to put on a front and appear to be a strong business persona when it comes to traits like confidence. You must, however, be aware of the importance of knowledge. Good businesspeople are curious and are always learning and asking questions.”

TEAM STRATEGIZE

In order to achieve significant stride in business ecosystem, every new entrepreneur needs to explore uncharted territory. Since business environment is competitive and opportunities does not knock the doors of success on a daily basis, hence, the need for expert guidance, motivation and assistance is essential from seasoned strategist and business consultants.

This is the void “TeamStrategize” seeks to fill and comes as a connecting platform. TeamStrategize is a Delhi-based technocommercial consulting firm being operated and managed by highly professional and committed innovative individuals.

TS from a modest beginning have in a short span of time, made significant inroads in their vision road map. The mission of TS is to drive high-impact strategic transformations to upcoming business ventures so as to facilitate and allow them garner maximum advantage. The approach of TS is to combine strategy development and innovation, and thereafter, tactically blend it with pragmatic focused planning to achieve the desired results, allowing resource optimization and the best return on investment.

The Exclusive Service Portfolio

TeamStrategize adds life to the business – with credible, expert consulting with ground-level solutions. Some of the focus areas where TS is presently working on:

Talent and Technology: Innovations differentiate the seed from the husk. Since the market today is teaming with several players, therefore, it becomes imperative to know, develop and implement innovation driven business plans. One of the focus areas of TS is to identify fresh talented professionals and provide such potential innovators and entrepreneurs space for grooming, get the right opportunities and network.

Education: The best part of student’s young mind is they can rapidly adapt to change and they are ready to explore beyond traditional norms. TS has devised tailor-made initiatives for academic institutions, keeping in focus the requirement of new age students and parents collectively.

Advertising: Perception of customer/ consumer revolves around what is new, what is the improvement from the earlier available product/service and today’s customers are extremely sensitive to and influenced by changes brought by social media and over the information highway provided by the World Wide Web at the tip of ones’ fingers. Here TS’s Advertising and Brand promotion arm provides solutions as per the need of the market. Mind-Space Management: In order to allow companies to grow and remain relevant attracting and retaining the right set of talent is extremely important. TS offers specialized training, including but not limited to business market development tools so as to allow corporates as well as start-ups to focus on

new trends and make changes in their business models so that success becomes achievable.

The Innovative Initiative by TeamStrategize India is experiencing a flourishing world of start-up ecosystem. Start-ups have exploded and this is revolutionizing the country. Young people’s creative ideas are now becoming a reality. Keeping the Talent of the TEAM in mind, TS has started a new initiative “Investing in Talent (TS@IiT)”, which will identify young talent, help them ideate, nurture their ideas and help them step in the ecosystem with confidence. Their endeavour is not only creating a roadmap of success, but also motivating them to lead the country. Keeping this vision in mind TS is focusing on NorthEast of India. Even the Government has recognized the vast pool of talent in the citizens of the farthest part of India. TS believes that the Land of the rising sun is an ocean of opportunity and people from the region have shown the capacity and capability to excel and achieve not only their dreams but also allow them to contribute, significantly, to the growth chain of India. Specifically designed interactive programs initiated by TS, with supports from experts and Investors, will lead to a more shining India.

A small overview of the Dynamic Leadership Team at TS

Malobika Sengupta – Co-Founder

A woman of substance. A woman with a solid three decade of experience in marketing and strategic consultancy. Ms. Sengupta is not only a successful, energetic and enthusiastic CEO who played a key role in nurturing, developing and steering Wigan & Leigh brand throughout India. She lead from the front for more than 20 years with able leadership and conviction. She maintained a conducive relationship with the partners in United Kingdom by developing an open and focused network of partnership with and among the universities and institution of repute in UK and the British Iles.

Monalisa Mallick – Co-Founder

Monalisa Mallick is a working professional for the past 20 years and that she is a beacon of women of the new millennia. She is highly focused, motivated, ready to adapt to any change, extremely savvy to new information, innovation, technological changes and blends it all to garner success and profitability of a business enterprise.

Viswaroop Bhattacharya – Co-Founder

He has over 24 years of experience in the fields of finance and accounting. He worked with the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT), which was founded by the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He is familiar with the Government and Institute level protocols for establishing Incubation units, their grant facilities and overall working style of such institutions. Mr. Bhattacharya is a creative visionary and is open to new ideas and innovations.

Facilitating New Age Business Enterprises including Entrepreneurs & Innovators to allow them to achieve desired outcome with practical, innovative and result-oriented approach

Renu | Business Connect

RIDE INTO THESE 7 NATIONAL PARKS FOR AN AMAZING JUNGLE SAFARI

Walking into a zoo while sitting on our father’s shoulder and asking them about the who’s who of animals during childhood was always the biggest fantasy of every child. But, unlike a zoo, a wildlife sanctuary doesn’t capture animals, so here Jungle Safaris are the way to watch your favourite animals drooling around the forest, from a threatened tiger to a furious rhino, we want to witness everything. So, we’ll tell you seven places in the country where you can catch the beauty of animals.

• Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand

Jim Corbett National Park, situated in Uttarakhand is India’s first and oldest national wildlife sanctuary, and it is acclaimed as a heaven for the adventure seekers and wildlife junkies. While there are rare chances of actually spotting a tiger inside this park, you might see one that is not baited or tracked. Also, it is one of the few parks with wild elephants in northern India. And we must say that a jeep safari is worth a try inside this park.

• Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh is your best bet if you want to do some ‘tiger spotting’. Here, a trip to Kanha National Prak, located at Mandla is a go-go. In this gigantic location, the woods are massive, but thanks to the park’s colossal core area, protected by a wide buffer zone, you can go deep into them. The royal Bengal tiger, leopard, Barasingha and the Indian wild dog have a large population. In a horse-shoe-shaped valley spread over 940 sq km, you can see elephant safaris in this park.

• Sunderbans National Park, West Bengal

As the Sunderbans are part of the largest delta in the world, created by the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers, they are densely covered by mangrove forests. It has one of the country’s largest Bengal tiger reserves, as well as an array of birds, reptiles and invertebrate animals, such as the salt-water crocodile! And what’s more, not in jeeps, but in canoes, you’ll sign up for their safaris.

• Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh

The highlight of Bandhavgarh National Park is that it has the highest population of tigers in the world, so it is not difficult to spot a tiger in this place. The nearby Tala village, which has a great choice of accommodation, suiting all budgets, is another tourist attraction while visiting the park. Here, you have the luxury of enjoying your elephant safari.

• Kaziranga National Park, Assam

Located in Assam, this park lies between Nepal and Bangladesh, the northeast of the narrow neck of land, and has a landscape of pristine forest, tall elephant grass, marshes and shallow pools. You can see two-third of the world’s Great Indian one-horned rhinoceros’ population here, and a World heritage site. Elephants, wild buffaloes, monitor lizards, and water birds are also rich in it. Your choices include a private jeep tour or an elephant trip.

Ashwathy Nair | Business Connect

• Gir Forest National Park, Gujarat

The wildlife sanctuary of Gir is home to the last wild Asian lions left on earth. But there is zero chance of seeing a tiger here because it doesn’t have tigers. The second most common predator found in these forests, aside from lions, is the leopard. The park offers many fantastic drives, in jeeps, through scenic areas.

• Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan

Visit this 1,334 sq km park in Rajasthan if you want to see the tiger in its most majestic avatar. Here, even during the daytime, you will spot the tigers when they are busy preying. As a result of the pictorial ruins that dot the wildlife park, it is also counted as a famous heritage site.