A conglomerate is not judged on the number of product lines it creates. Rather it is judged on the number of lives it touches, changes, impacts on. When the stories it creates, the values it propagates, the trust it builds are irreplaceable, the brand becomes part of lives.
The blue forever 21 Shirt gifted by my friends when I turned 21 would stay as a sweet memory forever. A brand is associated with memories like above. The first phone call I made to my sister was through IDEA, on top of it, my whole generation remembers ‘What an Idea, Sirji ‘ads. A brand becomes part of lives when it can get the pulse of the nation. Many people say that there is no place better than home, 15 years back when my dad chose yellow UltraTech cement bags for constructing the home, I could not quite understand the amount of trust he has in it. When I look back at my home, it always reminds me of this trust. A brand is built by trust and it just grows stronger over time.
Let us take a trip down the memory lane to the pre-independence era, the 1850s is a gruelling time for our country. Very few brave industrialists could dare to invest in their home country, even few could even shape the industries. The setups which are made across sectors, the courage to invest largely across the country is possible only by a unique set of vision with a saint-like dedication. It all boils down to trust you have on your country, a way which I could repay this trust to this brand is by investing in Aditya Birla Sun Life Tax Relief 96 Direct-Growth fund. If a youngster invests in the brand with half of his first salary, it means the brand had made a deep impact in his life. The brand name must have been a synonym of 'trust' to him. ABG is not just another conglomerate; it is a set of values and trust; it had become part of lives for my grandfather, it will be for my grandchildren.
At the same time, creating an impact is not easier. A simple and perceivable impact might have crossed time-tested challenges and countless problems. It depends on how you perceive the problems. ABG leadership group have always treated problems as an opportunity for innovative growth. I strongly align with such principles. I faced one such opportunity during my tenure as President at Robotics Club of Sastra. I wanted to leave a robotic imprint at university which can impact years to come. I brainstormed with my team to find three focus areas:
1. Strong talent.
2. Research projects.
3. Funds.
We believed these three focus areas would lead us to the new limits we have set to us. We trusted each other with roles and responsibilities. We let our robotic skills market us. We made an announcement robot, which moved around the campus announcing the club recruitment process. This attracted other talented members towards us.
For actively engaging the team, we needed to attract strong research projects. We submitted a feasibility report demonstrating our capabilities to build a robotic arm. Research wing of SASTRA funded us 36k-USD spanning across three years.
To get financially strong is to fund your own projects. After analyzing previous workshops’ operational data, I introduced a freemium model where participants don’t pay for attending the workshop, they only pay for robotic components. It is like our subscription to apps like Saavn, LinkedIn. Participants are welcome to attend workshops for free and only if they liked the robots and learnings, they would pay for components. Registrations surged, so did the profits, replenishing our funds. We ended up with a 100-member strong team with strong business visibility.
For renovating the club, I had to establish goals to diverse teams, levitate technology for business needs which turned me from a passive follower to an active leader. The passion to do something different, patience to create an impact, perseverance to try out different strategies has brought best to mankind. It will continue to do so until groups like ABG creates active leaders instead of passive followers.
