Shalini Singh started up three ventures SOCIAL, SpeakersMIC & Galavnise PR. She tells us about her entrepreneurial journey and more –
Can you tell us how the idea of all your 3 businesses came about?
School Of Communication And Learning (SOCIAL) was launched in April 2015. SOCIAL is a #BusinessCommunication #BootCamp both for first time job seekers and for those already in the workforce who have realized lack of business communication is impacting their career growth. SOCIAL also supports its clients with editorial services.
The venture came out from a need of my personal experience. Like all Business ventures, we are always on the lookout for talented people to be effective team members to take the business ahead. We hire across the spectrum – candidates with Bachelors & Masters degrees (MBA, Mass communication), Freshers and those with work experience. It is frustrating when a new hire has poor business communication skills. It severely impacts both the individual’s and the organization’s productivity. I have also observed and have discussed with many on how lack of #BusinessCommunication impacts the team members confidence level.
SOCIAL was formed to launch the “Confident & Competent” candidate. Our practical course on business communication & productivity will allow our graduates to be productive from Day One. Our aim is to have those part of SOCIAL evolve into highly valued & respected members of the organisation they are a part of.
Speakers MIC (Motivate Inspire Create) was founded in October 2014. Many of the speakers on Speakers MIC are not ‘media recognised’. However, they are ‘achievers’ and inspiring.
Emhyr 12 has started an NGO, Devika Malik 24,a para-athlete has lived with disability all her life. Yasmin is a two time cancer survivor. Every one of our speakers is an achiever and their stories have something powerful to tell us. Corporates agree- and many have invited them to address their team members.
Galvanise PR was founded in 2008 – we started working with pure play brands, however realigned in 2013 and today we work with emerging brands. We provide PR for ‘metros’ / non-metros or Bharat PR / and Thought Leadership.
Do you have plans to venture into any other new business / service in the future?
My time & effort all go into ensuring that all my ventures are consistently associated with quality and excellent service. Also besides running the three ventures I work with a few start-ups whom I mentor on ‘marketing’.
What does it take to succeed as a woman entrepreneur?
I think man or a woman, the challenges are same for an entrepreneur. To succeed it is important to make use of all24 hours productively – at the start of any venture, 24 hours also seem to be less and it can be chaotic, which is when the individual’s ecosystem be it parents, partners, friends need to chip in emotionally. An entrepreneurial journey in my opinion is highly emotional – with more downs than ups for the first 18 months, post which comes stability. An entrepreneur should be conscious in avoiding extreme attachment to the venture – which means they need to have the ability to look at the venture in a detached way – this bit is challenging (it was for me as well with my first ventureJ). Detachment will allow one to hear what the environment/ customers are asking for
What initial challenges did you face when setting up a venture?
Setting up GalvanisePR made me realise that it takes much more to run a venture than just being a ‘subject matter’ expert. I was lucky to have an ecosystem which guided me in setting up the venture . What I lacked was getting a mentor on board , which I did much later (2013). A ‘good’ mentor gets you to think and plan ahead . This is essential as entrepreneurs usually get bogged down with short term issues.
I would also recommend entrepreneurs investing in an Advisory Board - which I think most over look. This group of people is not connected with day to day operations but when reached out to usually come out with ideas which work for the organization or gets the senior management to think in the correct direction.
What words of advice would you share with other aspiring women entrepreneurs?
It is awesome for more entrepreneurs to come in – India needs more job providers to meet the increasing demand of job seekers.
To be an entrepreneur means to ‘create’ ‘build’ something keeping in mind ‘funding’ is not easy to get. The rewards are many, but being an entrepreneur may not mean finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
My take for anyone stepping into entrepreneurship is – there is no plan B. Take the plunge and give your idea wings to fly.