At BrilliantRead Media, our aim is to bring to our community some of the unique and compelling stories from the entrepreneurship and the leadership world. As part of this endeavour, we invited yet another seasoned entrepreneur and leader – Chavi Hemanth for an exclusive interview with us. Chavi is a business leader, mentor, consultant, advisor, motivational speaker and consultant. She is the Founder of EBSIndiainc.com. Let’s learn more about her inspiring journey, her background and her advice for our growing community:
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Chavi:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as a women entrepreneur, please;
The confidence I have has its roots from my schooling at Sophia Girls School. I did my graduation in Bachelor of Arts (B.A) degree from Delhi University in 1994 & Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree in 2018 from, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.
I started my career with the logistics industry in 1993, then I moved on to work with the Chamber of Commerce & Industry in 2002. In 2016, I founded EBS India Inc., a Business Management Consulting Firm which beliefs in Combined Success for all its Stakeholders and advises companies on Corporate Communications, Regulatory Issues & their Brand Equity Building in the market.”
While I was heading FICCI Retail & FMCG department, first research document on FDI policy for Retail was launched & Single Brand Retail Government policy also came out in 2006. Further during my tenure with Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA) as its Secretary-General, Direct Selling Guidelines was issued by the states of Kerala & Rajasthan.
Even after starting my Business Consulting Firm, EBS India Inc, I have been closely working with the Government & Chambers of Commerce on policy frameworks.
My journey as a Motivational speaker started in 2011, when I spoke to Direct Sellers in a Mass meeting, reassuring them about the commitment of Direct Selling Industry towards them in India. Subsequently, I was invited by Media Houses & Global Organizations to speak at various forums on a wide range of subjects like Consumer Rights, CSR, FMCG, POSH Act, Retail Sales, and Business Ethics & on Direct Selling.”
I am thankful for the professional advice and guidance were given to me by my mentors in the Industry, during the course of my career which has been helpful in my entrepreneurial journey so far.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
It is not that I chose entrepreneurship over a corporate career. I had a successful corporate career of 20 years in which I was exposed to the nuances of business, which enabled me to start my entrepreneurial journey. As far as I can remember I was always intrigued to entrepreneurship since I was a child
I remember very clearly when I was in grade 3, I just wanted to open a factory and I had no clue about what sort of factory I would open and things like that.
Further, when I was in grade 10, someone asked me what I wanted to do, so I stated that I wanted to open a shop which had everything a woman could buy from her toes to her head and at that time I had no clue what Malls were where these things are available. However, I ended up making a policy for that subject matter in the country during my tenure with FICCI and that is a big achievement for me personally.”
In 2016, I opened up EBS India Inc. and the whole idea behind it was that I wanted to be independent and self-reliant in my endeavour and at the back of mind was to start something on my own and consulting business was a natural progression to my career. Yes, I have a lot of plans and I will be getting into many more new ventures sometime in the future.
‘EBS India Inc’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our readers would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving with the help of your startup.
EBS India Inc. is a business consultancy firm delving on various sectors of the Indian economy with expertise in Brand Equity Building, Corporate Communications & Regulatory Public Policy. EBS is a service concept which cocoons a shield of security around organizations and provides Brand Positioning identity for an organization.
The Firm is one of the finest fully integrated enterprises, offering diversified, learning and developmental solutions to SME’s, and large businesses.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
Initially, when we continued working during the pandemic COVID-19, we faced a few challenges. However, we overcame most of them through technology, building new processes and with prime focus on everyone’s health safety.
1 – Our team working model consists of a lean team which is not at all resource-heavy and has minimal overheads.
2 – Our team was resilient and cooperative, used technology during the lockdown.
3 – We ensured that salaries to our Team were given on time even during the lockdown.
However, I would like to say that Work From Home (WFH) is not an option that I would consider forever.
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you sought to establish your success story?
My Business Mantra is always stay calm under pressure-cooker situation and never lose sight of your aims.
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?
I personally believe that we need to delegate the right people with the right work which makes them feel passionate to work with positive energy.
One thing which has inspired me is an incident which happened during my childhood, I had fallen from a cycle and had scratched my knee. When I went to my father, he stated that I put some mud over the scratched knee and move on. These words still drive me, whenever you fall, you should get up and move forward.
For me, my family is my source of strength, whose invaluable support has enabled me to pursue my entrepreneurial career. I am a self-motivated person & driven by the drive to excel at projects and assignments which I undertake because I believe in working for my conscious, which inspires me to deliver my best services for the client.
In your opinion – what is more necessary: Idea or a good team for a successful startup?
In my opinion, good teams are necessary for a successful start-up. You just cannot go ahead with an idea jotted down on a piece of paper without like-minded people working on it.
To be successful, you should team up with likeminded people who share your vision and also need to hire the right people for the right position so that it gets implemented as well.
What are the three most important lessons you have learned building your startup?
I have learnt three important lessons while building my Business Consulting Firm:
1 – To have strong people skills, delegating & hiring the right people who have attributes you don’t have
2 – Flexibility in approach and to be adaptive to rapid changes which are shaping our business environment
3 – Time Management and Delegation Skills which are needed for executing projects.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
I believe in empowering my team to take independent decisions, which facilitates ownership & confidence. I have a philosophy of stewardship in the organization, where I mentor and guide my teams to become self-reliant in executing projects.
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
I am an optimistic person and I always make it a point to write down my tasks for the day.
In my opinion, emotional intelligence and mental strength are the prerequisites for successfully navigating the professional challenges which we have to face in our day to day life.
In fact, all challenges which come I look at them as an opportunity because they have always expanded me personally while I was at FICCI or at IDSA. It is the challenges which actually broaden my horizons and it is because of these very challenges that I got the courage to start my entrepreneurial journey.
Please share with us – what has worked well for you so far?
I always believe in listening to the feedback of my clients and partners regarding the services which we are offering them. I am open to suggestions which are offered to me for up-gradation of business processes that we have in our Business Consulting Firm.
I follow an open door policy for my associates and always welcome their insights which have the potential to scale up the business which I am managing.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring women entrepreneur?
My advice is to visualize and have a goal and a vision plan set with timelines. Anything without a deadline is just a to-do list so don’t start your future venture on a to-do list but on a goal plan with timelines.
I believe in power dressing because it radiates self-respect and self-worth. I also would like to advise that upskilling is an important contributor towards building a successful career.
