This week we spoke to yet another promising young entrepreneur – Manav Bhanot, who is the Founder And CEO At Socbays. Let’s read about his interesting journey and how he encountered all the challenges to start his own venture!
Excerpts from our exclusive conversation with Manav;
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey, please;
So, I am 22 years old and I come from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh but currently living in Delhi. Journey to this extent has been great and is really interesting. My company is all about my whole life experiences and what I learnt all the way growing up. I just combined all of it. This idea came from all the real life problems I faced through out my journey till here.
Let me talk your through where and how all of this started.
I studied in Rainbow School in Saharanpur from 1 grade to 6 grade, then migrated to Punjab and studied there from grade 7 to grade 12.
I was really athletic and excelled at sports from the beginning. I got into sports in grade 2 itself.
I started my career in gymnastics and played it till 6 grade and participated in many competitions and won a lot of them. From there on, winning mentality and self confidence started growing in me from a very early age.
The migration period to another state was really a difficult time for me and it took me a whole year to get comfortable with new language and culture.
I started playing football in 7 grade and in the very first competition I was adjudged as ‘the man of the tournament’ and from that day onwards, I found my passion and the fact that I want to become a sports star and my aim was to bring the FIFA world cup to India. I was playing at a higher level I was sports captain of my school the recognition I was getting in school was amazing. The leadership in me started growing and I won all major competitions with my team. I had a great success leading my school club in athletics as well I won 4 gold medals in a single meet. I was ruling my school world.
Then I failed in class 11 because of a lot of attention in sports and that was the time of my life where I changed myself forever and I thought may I am a loser and got demotivated like may others. But, instead, I made up my mind and re-affirmed – ‘Yes’ I am one of the guys who can change the world for good and then I came to Delhi University. I gave sports tryouts and got selected but just after some time, another dream started to reverberate. It was my childhood dream to go to Europe and play for a club there and earn some big bucks and live the fame life I wanted so I dropped out of college and I went to Europe with a dream but that place had something else waiting for me.
I lived there for 2 years. First year was the biggest and the most difficult time a person can face in his entire life. My passport and money got stolen and I had nowhere to go. The next 4 months, all the money I had got spent and I was in a place where I knew nob one and had nowhere to go. Language was another barrier. I only knew English and it came to the point where I slept on streets and managed by eating just 1 meal a day and I was just alive somehow. Then, I met a guy who told me to do a job on the farms and I did that in summers. Oh! I can reminisce those days, It was the most difficult time. But as they say, if you are determined enough, nothing can shatter your dreams.
I got scouted by a football club there and life took a positive turn again. But racism kicked in and they told me that they will not promote me further. I started my first venture just to earn some more bucks and my venture was really going good, I was earning well but because of the visa restrictions, I had to shut it down.
I love business and I cannot work for anyone else because it gives me challenges and that rush I need in my blood. Everyday a challenge to innovate and do something new. I was confused at the point and then I decided not to complete my education and go back home and start my own sports company to bring a change in the industry and bring the biggest revolution that we need and make our coming generation stars and bring the FIFA world cup because that dream is still there. That’s what I am trying to achieve through my startup.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
Being a sports person I love challenges and entrepreneurship is same as you are in a field you get failed a lot of times there are so many challenges but you have to score a goal to win this game. I love to rush in my blood and I believe I can make a difference in this world.
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
Good Question. Every night I think of what tasks I did and I am the kind of person who takes actions very quickly as I get an idea. I am ready to implement it for the second day. I get charged with making my ideas into reality and my vision is the only thing that wakes me up in the morning.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
Building a company at a young age brings a lot of obstacles as compared to other business risks. A boy from a middle-class family from a small city when he dreams to come to Delhi and build a company which will be the market leader of its own kind which the company will create is a very big deal and the biggest obstacle is finances
Every parent wants their child to have a safe and secure job and live life happily but I love to overcome struggles and hard time that give me a kick. I never get scared of telling my parents but I am grateful for how well they manage the finances for me. I had to stand against everything to make this happen and very soon we will reach there.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
I am an emotional person. Business needs to have emotions, not personal, obviously.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I have been in situations which are full of pressure since I was a child and I have been facing them calmly because I know what can make you overcome this pressure is confidence and believing in yourself. Handling the pressure is what separates the best player of the team from the ordinary players.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person?
In my journey so far I believe taking risks and taking instant actions is what is helping me grow. The moment you take decision and risk. It is all your responsibility and you have to make it on your own and build your own path.
It is very hard and challenging but will be worthwhile in the end because. We are one of very few who are trying to make the dream a reality. Trying the impossible is the strategy for me.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
According to me the most important factor that starts everything is being fearless and take decisions and after that other factors come along like being persistent and being a learner. But I would say be fearless in the first place that will give you more chances of being successful as it will open up the doors to the path that goes to success.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
I always work with one thing in mind to make this world your place.
Understand people, make connections and learn from everyone you get along with and apply it as soon as possible to your actions.
Try not to become the best in your city; think of becoming the best in the country or the world; there is no limit.
Think as big as you can.
Do not wait for the right time to come.
Life is full of surprises when your right time will come there will be new challenges which will make you shift to your next so-called right time and the truth is the right time is when you took action and did what you should have.
Do not waste time because life is very short and do not worry about finances or experience.
Be fearless you have to come inside the pool if you want to learn swimming.
Just be persistent and do not give up everything will fall in place.
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