In our latest interview, we spoke to yet another young and passionate entrepreneur Heemanshu Doshi to find out more about his exciting journey as an entrepreneur. He handled various mid to senior level leadership roles in major corporates before taking the plunge into entrepreneurship. He is the Founder and CEO At Shaping India Education LLP & Shaping Insight Healthcare Pvt Ltd. Let’s learn more about his interesting journey, way forward and advise for those aspiring!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with him:
Tell us a little bit about yourself (background) and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I have completed my Advanced Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Griffith University, Australia, a five-star ranking University with double majors in Marketing Management and Human Resource and Industrial Relationship. I have worked in for various industries ranging from Real Estate, Media, Entertainment, Exhibitions/Conferences, Education and Healthcare at various mid and senior-level management. These industries gave me a deep insight into various challenges/problems faced at various level of human existence and their probable realistic solutions.
I always strive to be happily productive in my personal and professional space with due respect to the time that I have on hand. For me, my team and people around me matters the most as I purely believe in the mantra that a happy and emotionally connected team is what brings stability and goodwill to the organisation.
I am a passionate, disciplined, high-performing and purpose driven individual and am currently pursuing what I love the most through my ventures. I am currently the Founder – CEO of two organisations: Shaping India Education LLP and Shaping Insight Healthcare Pvt Ltd.
Shaping India is into Education Domain prominently known for inculcating Life Skills and Values along with Leadership development of School Students, Teachers, Principals and Management. It has impacted more than a million lives so far in the span of the last 8 years of its existence. Our flagship programs have been considered so valuable that we have retained 87% of our clientele year on year adding considerable value to their belief in us.
Shaping Insight is into Healthcare Domain. We are believed to be the pioneers of getting world-class Therapies all under one roof thereby giving dignified purpose of life to all those individuals who require various therapies to overcome their physical and mental challenges which might have come to them by birth or over the span of their life.
Shaping Insight specialises in Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Aqua Therapy, Snoezelen Therapy, Animal Assisted Therapy, Psychological Counselling/Assessment and Remedial Education. We have a clientele as young as 14 months to 78 years of age group. It’s a Therapy Centre with a difference. Be it in terms of its size, approach to therapies, result-oriented intervention, family support and transparency with clients, all these aspects have given an altogether different dimension to the way how Therapies are perceived in India.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
Entrepreneurship has not come to me by choice but at a certain level, it was my restlessness and obsession to deal with certain issues with agility and priority. It all started with the Education sector where the simple aspects of life skills and values were missing in students and they were told to focus on many other aspects of life which were not that crucial. We at Shaping India made the understanding of Life Skills and Values so interesting that rather than learning and knowing them, students started to imbibe the same in their daily routines by simply connecting to our content.
When Shaping India, was at its peak of reaching almost a million count of lives impacted through its flagship programs we realised that the number of special children in and around is growing rapidly. These children are facing various challenges and issues like Autism, ADHD, Learning Disability to name a few. This is where our another venture, Shaping Insight was born, which caters to any individuals between the age group of 1yr to 80 yrs who require Therapy to address their wellbeing and become socially integrated.
Entrepreneurship gives freedom to solve many problems around us which otherwise would have not been solved passionately in a fixed time frame thereby creating value to every stakeholder connected with the problem.
How do you find the industry/niche that you’re in?
I am connected to two industries at present. Education and Healthcare. The niche about both the industries is they are by far less regulated in certain aspects of the business. This gives us the freedom to explore various ideas on the ground level and then implement on scalable level thereby giving us room to learn, unlearn and relearn.
What gets you out of bed in the morning, i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
At present we are impacting almost million lives through our flagship programs of Shaping India and Therapies at Shaping Insight.
My Journey till date has been nothing less than a roller coaster ride as my energy and aspirations kept me always on the go seeking new avenues which would add value in the lives of people around me. In a country of 1.25 billion population, we have the potential to positively impact hundreds of millions of individuals either through education or through healthcare. We are just at the tip of the iceberg. There is so much to achieve and impact in this country which is the highest source of motivation for me.
Smiling faces of students, teachers and principals who become better human after inculcating life skills and values in them along with relieved faces of patients and their families who overcome their mental and physical challenges through world-class therapies is what gets me out of bed every day charged up and roaring to go.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
Acceptance of the facts that the simpler aspects of life like life skills and values need to be taught through professionals was the biggest challenge for us to crack.
In terms of therapies, an individual from my family is special or differently abled and he or she needs medical intervention was the biggest challenge. In a nutshell, breaking the barrier of mindset and getting them to accept the importance of our service was the biggest challenge.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
It’s unfair to give a priority to any of this aspect as I believe both are interrelated. If one works with ruthless attitude then in the short term one may make money but will lose people around who have supported to gain customers and thereby earn money for the organisation.
If one will focus on too much of emotions and give less priority to earn then the organisation would find tough to exist and seize an opportunity to cater to its customers.
So, to sum up, the right level of emotions to make team and your customers feel worthwhile to be associated with you and focusing on creating value which would drive adequate resources to be it money or goodwill is necessary.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
For any entrepreneurial drive, all one needs first is courage, followed by a clear vision and purpose of driving himself/herself along with the team to achieve the said vision.
Entrepreneurs often worry about investments, office space which is understood. However, first and foremost, one needs to build a solid team who shares your vision and wants to commit their time, energy and knowledge for the betterment of the organisation and nation at large.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
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