Search Results

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Jatin Gokani : Good friend Vaibhav Thirani and I Co-founded Crux Digital. Vaibhav was extensively coding for a multinational corporate then while I was working with a mobile marketing company at its prime. Digitisation and digital communication was on the rise and start-ups mushrooming in the space. During one of our casual meets, Vaibhav and I inquisitively discussed if it was possible to somehow make digital communication more effective, interactive, interesting in the mind of the person receiving a message. The idea dawned on him whilst reading one such message. Instantaneously, it dawned on us that we could work out a solution for companies trying to reach millions of target audience. It was sort of a eureka moment and we passionately set about working on a solution. Inception is the toughest and like all beginners, our story started with its challenges. We were up for it and without any monetary support, only blessings from family & friends, we started from home, then a generous friends office corner, followed by renting an office at a commercial suburban hub. 11 years & counting, we have successfully and more productively than ever, found solutions for our loyal clients. Great Companies: What are the various product and services provided by Crux Digital Pvt Ltd Jatin Gokani : Cloud Call Centre, Integrated digital communication framework, SMS, Toll-free, IVRS, OBD BOTs... Great Companies: What makes Crux Digital Pvt Ltd different from hundreds of other similar firms? Jatin Gokani : We pride ourselves on finding solutions that are effective, cost saving and enablers for our customers. We design solutions for clients who face numerous challenges with agility and precision. Speed in onboarding & activating our clients is our edge over competition. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Jatin Gokani : First we need to have clear understanding of the challenges faced by the client post which we need to design and deliver an effective solution which is agile, effective and economical. Along the way we have to cope with policies related to transactional text & voice communications. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Crux Digital Pvt Ltd? Jatin Gokani : Being a solution provider our solutions will most certainly make us grow. The learning curve has been fulfilling. We have grown organically over the years. Consistently finding effective solutions is the prime ingredients to our growth, which is why many of our clients have stood by us since inception. The reward and recognition received by the numerous awards is a testimonial to this fact. In 5 years we will have worked on numerous solutions and I am sure along the way we shall come up with one or more Eureka ideas to chart a new successful and eventful journey which will be satisfying to say the least. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Jatin Gokani : Do what it takes, make a difference & it will matter...

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Saumya Jain: We are a family-run business with the fourth generation now in the business. Started by my great grandfather, Mr. Jaichand Jain in 1941, we have been driven by a single-minded mission to enable access to water in the remotest and roughest of terrains across the globe. Great Companies: What are the various products and services provided by Vinyl Pipes Private Limited Saumya Jain: Vinyl Pipes Private Limited today offers the largest, strongest, safest, and most efficient range of eclectic uPVC pipes for all water applications, making it one of the biggest & most trusted suppliers of uPVC pipes. The Vinyl range of pipes includes well-casing pipes, pressure pipes, column pipes, screen pipes, HDPE pipes, and their respective fittings, which find application in water-wells, irrigation, sanitation, housing, drainage, and rainwater harvesting. All unique products undergo an annealing process that provides them the distinction of being all-weather & all-terrain pipes. They withstand extreme temperatures & jerks without losing form. Our Column uPVC pipes are one of a kind in the industry. The Vinyl uPVC Column Pipes come equipped with a (patent pending) lock designed to raise the standard of Borewell installations. This lock plays a dual role. On one hand, it ensures that the pipes are perfectly aligned on the other lends support in load-bearing which makes the pipes stress-free and perfect for handling high-pressure water. Furthermore, a Rubber seal has been added to the lock making the pipe leakproof. Great Companies: What makes Vinyl Pipes Private Limited different from hundreds of other PVC Pipe Manufacturing firms? Saumya Jain : We are very committed to creating high-quality products to cater to every water management need across the globe. Our in-house R&D department incessantly works at improving our offerings with unique features that bring tangible benefits to the water well and water management industry. One such endeavor has been the introduction of special processes that help in enhancing the mechanical property of the pipe, adding years to its life. With this process, all our pipes withstand extreme movement and bending, extreme temperatures, making them fit for extreme terrains & earthquake-prone areas too. Vinyl pipes have been designed for high durability and long-lasting; they have a life of 50+years and thereafter being recyclable have a value past their life span too. Quality being paramount, we have all quality certifications from the Bureau of India Standards (BIS), Indian Standard Institute (ISI), International Standards Organization (ISO), and Conformité Européene (CE). Third-party inspections from agencies like SGC, RITES, and IEPT lend further credibility to our products. The focus on operational excellence and customer empathy resulted in the set up of the 2nd state-of-art manufacturing unit 10 Kms off the Mundra seaport in Gandhidham, Gujarat, India. Proximity to the port has helped bring down the import cost and reduced the time of the shipment to customers. Today, Vinyl Pipes can deliver within 21 days anywhere across the globe. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Saumya Jain: This last one + year has thrown up unprecedented challenges forcing us like all other companies to imbibe agility. It was a challenging journey to achieve that. Other than that, challenges have come up in the form of irregular and erratic supply chains, sharply changing prices of raw materials, running operations seamlessly while keeping staff safe & meeting customer commitments. We struggled, we learned, and in many ways rediscovered ourselves and how we work to grow as a team and business. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What do 5 years down the line look like for Vinyl Pipes Private Limited? Saumya Jain: Well, our driving mission is to make water accessible to the remotest & the toughest terrain in the world, furthering that objective we intend to expand and strengthen our network across the globe. The immediate focus is being Middle East & Sub-Saharan region, thereafter South America, Europe & North America. We also hope to have a manufacturing unit in the Sub-Saharan region to cater to the demand of this market more effectively by the end of the 5 years. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Saumya Jain: My first advice would be to START. Start small, think disruption, traditional routes are no more the way to go. Build agility in your business right from the start & never stop learning.

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Malti Lakhani : There is always a triggering point in past for some event in life. Thus, two stories on a different time line triggered the birth of my company – Kaizen Institute of Training Excellence. Event 1 : During my second job in 1993, I worked as a Systems Executive for an organisation that catered to BARC. I was rated as the best employee for the year 1993 under the Japanese Management System – Kaizen. That was the time, I imagined to start a company of my own someday and name it as Kaizen. Event 2 : Further, in 1996, as my first job on the post of a Branch Head with an IT Company, I was asked to address the students and faculty. For the first time, I could not stand on my feet, or speak to people. I so wished that I could faint and be carried away from the spot as I did could not even gather the courage to walk away. Smartly for that time, I saved myself by pushing the mike to the ex-branch head and excused my turn by saying I will speak when I have achieved something with the team! I realised the fear of public speaking was more than the fear of death!! I made up my mind to do something in my career that would connect me to people and drive away the fear for once and all. Years later, I find myself training and coaching every level of employee, conducting outbound trainings, creating training content, networking, and so on.. And that was the story of birth of Kaizen Institute of Training Excellence in 2015! A dream realized after 22 years! Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Kaizen Institute of Training Excellence Malti Lakhani : Kaizen is offering services in the following Categories : 1. Students : Training for Aviation, Hospitality, Travel and Tourism, Retail, Event, Dramatics, Personality Development, and so on. The Trainings are followed with Placement assistance. 2. Corporates : Employee Training at all levels, Coaching for Mid, Senior and Top Level, Content development for Training, Outbound Training, Change Management, Behaviour Based Safety Management, Soft Skills, Business Consultancy, etc. Great Companies: What makes Kaizen Institute of Training Excellence different from hundreds of other Training and Development firms? Malti Lakhani : Every organisation is unique and has had great intentions while it was born. Kaizen decided to stick to its meaning – Continuous Improvement (Kai-Zen). With this goal in mind, we have ensured to grow each minute, day and year, together. 1. We have had many students from weak financial background whom Kaizen supported with great discounts and support in studies also giving them internships with us while they learnt. We 2. We have had many students pursuing other courses along with Kaizen courses whom we supported by providing them access to our classrooms entire day so that they could stay back to study for their other courses. 3. We guided few UPSC exams students, students reappearing for boards by motivating them to study positively and guiding them through during their queries, though this was not a part of Kaizen’s course. 4. We also counselled and continue counselling students who have lost their hopes and have had self-destructive thoughts. Some such students have been placed well in the industry with proper guiding and counselling and have been doing very well since then. Proud to state that we rose hopes and positive mindsets. 5. Kaizen has worked closely with blue-collar employees in the industries and has been able to deliver complex ideas in very simple manner. No wonder, we have been favourites in the corporate sector, specially for organisations who have tried our services! 6. Kaizen has been helping students with presenting themselves in interviews and bagging jobs. Ours students do say that if there was one company that should have been for motivating lives and career, it sure would be Kaizen Institute of Training Excellence. 7. Kaizen might have missed to make money, but never missed to collect blessings! It’s a living entity of heart, body and caring souls. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Malti Lakhani : Challenges have been only another upping stones! But yes, before we overcome them, they have been the struggling milestones for us. We have borne the brunt of exit of various Airlines which in turn gave us less confident footfalls. Demonitization came as another hitch. And to top up was the Pandemic! Yet, we have not seen much fall in terms of percentage of work we have been doing. There is definitely fall in number of projects currently than what we handled earlier. There has been a stagnancy on and off but the word of mouth and repeat clients have saved us in time! It helps to build a “Delighted Client” base for an automatic traction in the business. 40 percent of clients are through Word of Mouth. But, building that rapport is the biggest challenge organisations should serve well. While designing and delivering a Self Development content for the Self Help Groups of Maharastra (under Mahahrastra State Rural Livelyhood Mission, Mahrastra Goverment) the biggest challenge was to explain the technical and management terms to the Rural folks. Kaizen took up the challenge to design a very simple and user friendly curriculum to raise the bar of motivation and excitement in learning. Its not about fitting them in our training. It’s all about fitting our training in them! Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Kaizen Institute of Training Excellence? Malti Lakhani : The skyline of my industry from my vision window is completely changing! Earlier, where we used to have a professional approach for training sessions requested by organisation, now they have started considering Resilience training, Soft training approach, Happiness Quotient approach, and so on apart from mainstream trainings. For Kaizen, these were always the top of the cake. Now, we have better opportunities to present what we believed in with the advantage of even the industry believing and seeing the same. Kaizen Institute of Training Excellence is focusing on supporting women entrepreneurs by providing them tools and techniques to solve their day to day business problems, in 2021. Kaizen is in process of signing up projects in the areas of expansion of a pharmacy chain, developing training content for Tribals of different states, and so on. By 2025, we are aiming to positively support 2000 women entrepreneurs in developing tools and techniques to help deal their day to day business problems with implementation of Kaizen practices. The journey has already begun! At the same time expanding to international frontiers is on the cards! Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Malti Lakhani : When you begin, all you need is TRUST in yourself. Trust leads to perseverant approach. And that means never giving up. Innovating ways to reach your dream if one way fails. There aren’t 100 failed ideas. They are all new ways which did not work in a particular case. They could be used by someone else. So, you document failures so as to not repeat them for the world will document your success.

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Prajapati Rahul Natvarbhai: After working for many years under Indibeam, I started getting a lot of queries related to content writing, website management and many other digital markerring works, So I realised why shouldn’t I start my own digital marketing services under one venture, and it came Soarbeam Digital - Digitally Prior, Soaring Higher Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Soarbeam Digital Prajapati Rahul Natvarbhai: As mentioned in Website 1. Influencers Marketing 2. Content Writing 3. PPC Services 4. E-commerce Solutions (Website Designing and Development) 5. Digital PR Great Companies: What makes Soarbeam Digital different from hundreds of other Digital Marekting firms? Prajapati Rahul Natvarbhai: Experience speaks louder than any words in any business. And after working in the field for around 8 years, and still updating our-self every single day we continue to serve the clients with best. I have been listed among the top digital influencers by Quroz, Bajaj Alliance, Klout etc. We have also worked and campaigned for brands like paytm , Amazon, Dream 11, Adani power, Renault, Reliance Jio on Twitter and many entertainment campaigns for Instagram. Service the clients at best is our first and foremost priority. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Prajapati Rahul Natvarbhai: As said in Bhagvadgeeta "Life is Struggle, Fight it" So yeah, Strong Teamwork is the challenge for us right now, work from home often limits the scope. But this too shall pass once the pandemic is over because serving is our topmost objective, we always aim to give the best to our clients. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Soarbeam Digital? Prajapati Rahul Natvarbhai: Speaking of long term goals, we aim to become the biggest influencer marketing agency among the world. Our main focus is portfolio building. We are also focusing on latest strategy and future Market strategies. Our key area of interest that needs new ideas include Podcast, Influencer marketing , App Store optimisation . Overall we are working to achieve the big marketing agency title in the next 5 years. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Prajapati Rahul Natvarbhai: Advice that works for me is that I believe in action rather than competition. Competitions limits the growth. So any venture that want to grow strong must always focus on bringing ideas into action . Starting is the first successful step for any business. All other hurdles automatically clear up our way once we start with the right mindset. This surely works in our favour.

Great Companies:How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Hello! My name is Punit korat, and I'm an award-winning communication designer from a small and peaceful city in india. I've been in the IT industry for over 8 years. For the last 6 years, I have been operating mainly in leading roles. Today I am trying to expand my experience in multiple areas and build a passionate team that will provide an innovative and excellent customer service. Great Companies:What are the various Services provided by Templatetrip We have been designing stunning eCommerce themes for the platforms like WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Opencart, Shopify, and more, with every essential feature in it. Great Companies:What makes Templatetrip different from hundreds of other IT firms? Templatetrip aims to help professional web designers and developers to build their websites easily and quickly! Great Companies:What are the struggles and challenges you face? Lack of Funds. Nothing can hold a business back like a money problem, trouble finding good employees, difficulties balancing growth and quality, marketing strategy. Great Companies:How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Templatetrip? Our Goal & Mission is the same. We don’t want people to spend their valuable time developing their website.So we want to make it easy for everyone to launch and expand their online presence by giving them reliable, affordable, and highly customizable premium quality templates. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? I do like to share some practical tips for beginners because I believe that skilled designers ought to help out beginners. To reach a higher level of efficiency, any beginner should follow these simple pieces of advice: Practice makes perfect: the best and only way to become a master in any field is to practice. There are multiple sources online you can use to upgrade your skills. Day by day, master your skills, and you will get to the next level. Good things take time, so be patient: nothing good comes easily. You might face plenty of challenges that will force you to quit. But try to stay positive. Believe in yourself, and with time, you will see the desirable results. Implement fresh knowledge as soon as possible. Enjoy what you do and believe in yourself. Once you start a project, free your mind and switch on your creativity. Always say to yourself, "I can do it." Create your portfolio before having the opportunity. Every platform or client would like to see what you are capable of before offering you a job. So, create a portfolio you can present to prospective clients at any time. Last but not least, you should think outside the box. Creative people think originally.

Great Companies – How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Ramya K. A Setty – When I was working with other companies, I always felt that I could do more in Marketing and in the world of Online Marketing. There was so much more to explore, scope to grow, expand, to learn more, to share more with people and businesses. My experience and expertise led my belief that I could provide more services, knowledge and consultation to my clients, intensifying my need to explore out on my own. This made it nearly impossible to be tied down to a company and that right there is the story of the beginning of Just A Thought! It started with an aim to making the digital platform available for every business and JAT does provide digital services to small, medium & large companies, to individuals, solo-preneurs and to entrepreneurs! Great Companies – What are the various Services provided by Just A Thought? Ramya K. A Setty – I started JAT in 2015 with the company focusing on content marketing, building brands through a strong online presence. Now, JAT specializes in allied works as well– design and creation, consultation, blogging, social media marketing, email marketing, digital marketing, campaigns, app development, branding and more. This has helped me in increasing virality and helping retain and gain more customers / clients. Great Companies – What makes Just A Thought different from hundreds of other Content Marketing firms? Ramya K. A Setty – I always believed that each individual, every business, has a right to have a digital presence. This has been a strong belief that led me to ideate JAT, a way to ensure there is reach the easy way. I strongly believe that we are ‘storytellers’ at the end of the day and this pushes my team and me, to encompass nuances which other companies may hesitate to venture into. Like, when we work with prospects and clients, we naturally tend to get involved with them not just as their online marketing partners but as their strategic partners too. This gives an edge, a leverage, to both of us to deliver the best. So for me, it is this relationship that sets us apart from the others. We connect, hear their story, connect more through our expertise in the field and tell that story to the world in the way that it needs to be told. If I may add, we do not believe in pre-determined packages for our services. Simply because one formula worked for one company does not mean it works for everyone. And we do not compel our clients to do our bidding just because we are experts. There is an interaction and then arriving at a plan that can work for both. Customization is KEY in our working as it helps us deliver exactly what the client requires. Great Companies – What are the struggles and challenges you face? Ramya K. A Setty – It has been over 5 years now, since I started JAT. Each day is new – bringing with it a variety of learning. Tough clients, sometimes a tough job, out-of-the-ordinary client/work/job, so on.. It would be easy for me to say that each day is a challenge considering the kind of business I am into, especially since it is ‘service-oriented’. But, I simply do not see it that way. I love to learn and hence even if it were a difficult situation, I would consider it as another lesson, a feather in the cap for doing it without giving up. JAT was willingly started and born out of passion. Hence, when I do a ‘job’ I do not see it as work, it is simply an extension of my passion to do something. I am thankful for a dedicated team-both in Chennai and Bangalore, that extends my belief. They really help me through any tough time in business and also lend me their expert advice! As a person and an entrepreneur, I believe each problem naturally comes with a solution and we just need to open our perspective to resolve issues. This is a speciality that has led me to learn, grow and simplify a lot of things both for myself and my team. We see each new client as our first client, each new project as a challenge in a positive way and a pathway to learn, expand and give our 100%. Great Companies – How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Just A Thought? Ramya K. A Setty – My dream has always been to make an empire out of Just A Thought – something that will encompass the entirety of the digital world. It may be necessary to put down a plan but for me, right now the plan is to put down smaller and short-term goals that add or rather become part of the big picture. I believe in the qualitative work we provide and this has already put JAT as one of the best in the industry. This for me definitely is one of the pathway to JAT’s glory or rather empire that can happen in a year or 5 or ten! In the coming years, I can only hope that this quality of work and increased expertise in all forms of online-digital marketing, will help me climb those rungs on the ladder of success, helping me expand along the way and realise my dream empire! I have a close-knit team without whom I could not have come this far, and I am positive that this will continue to the future as well. Great Companies - If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Ramya K. A Setty – Well, let me see if I can stop at one advice!!  It is exciting and rather ‘trendy’ now, to get into entrepreneurship, to introduce oneself as an entrepreneur, to get that inspiration from within to do something that you love and want to do… The journey is anything but easy though... I want to say, BE READY – To be okay not seeing big bucks (or any bucks at all) during the initial few months (or years) To not get frustrated thinking that you quit your double paying job To not get any or get just a bare few contracts/clients in the first few months To make drastic changes to your original business plans during the process To not compare your company/expertise/experience to others in the industry TO LEARN – from the experiences, the mistakes, from your clients/team other experts… To shed tears or lose sleep... to get lost and be found again… to seek and get help (if needed) Yes, I know it is a huge list, surely some of them one has already picked up somewhere in those ‘self-help’ entrepreneurial books. But what I have said is my experience of 5 years. It is ok to dream and get-set-go on that dream, but know that, it is a wonderful ‘learning’ journey to up there. Never forget that what you did not know yesterday, you may be a master of it tomorrow. Entrepreneurship is a journey of discovering oneself. It lets you grow, shed the unwanted ego (in most cases), learn a TON and end up being wiser than ever before! This is a special journey to your success, the one that gives you the best sleep in the nights and the best foot forward each morning! To all of you who want to start, All the very Best! If you want it, you will make it, no matter what it takes and no matter how the journey is – you will love it!

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Chitra Pillai : Almost a decade back, I personally had gone through an NLP workshop. That was the 1st time I was going through an experience of working on myself. I found this extremely transformational for me and I got interested in spreading awareness and help others enhance their potential. That's where the idea germinated and NLP Centre for Excellence took shape. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by NLP Centre Chitra Pillai : At NLP Centre we provide psychometric assessments for students for career guidance, cognitive development, and Emotional Intelligence. We also do assessments for Organizations for hiring, training and coaching purposes. We conduct NLP Programs for Teachers, Students, Parents, Corporate clients, customized training as per the needs of the client, and also conduct NLP Certification workshops. We conduct individual and group coaching sessions for personal excellence and emotional intelligence to enhance the productivity of the teams. Great Companies: What makes NLP Centre different from hundreds of other NLP firms? Chitra Pillai : NLP Centre has come into existence due to the transformation that I personally have gone through as an individual. Our goal is to help individuals from all strata of society to go through this amazing experience that can propel their individual growth. Hence, we are happy to work with diverse audiences right from homemakers, junior team members to the middle and top management. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Chitra Pillai : The major struggle or challenge is to help people realize the importance of emotional health. Organizations need to focus on this major aspect of employee wellness that majorly impacts productivity. People are willing to invest in materialistic assets or luxurious goods however when it comes to investing in themselves for self-growth or self-development, they tend to hesitate. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for NLP Centre? Chitra Pillai : I plan to collaborate with like-minded professionals who wish to create an impact and being a growth catalyst in people's lives. 5 years down the line, NLP Centre would have grown to a team of 25 professionals having its presence in over 10 countries. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Chitra Pillai : Believe in yourself and Just do it!

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Satya Mehta : I and my co-founder have stayed more than 2 decades (60% of Lives away from home) in hostels, PGs, from high-end premium to one-bed mattress cheap hostel and have learned that there is a problem to be solved. Also, had worked with academia for 8+ years and has seen students either suffering or being exploited. Hence decided to give back to the community in the form of student housing & coliving startup Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Roompe Pvt Ltd Satya Mehta : RoomPe operates (A) Student Accommodation (B) Hostels (C) Coliving (D) PGs RoomPe operates in (A) Lease & Operate (B) Revenue Sharing (C) Management contract model Any corporate or University with/without existing premised can approach us to operate or manage the student/staff housing Great Companies: What makes Roompe Pvt Ltd different from hundreds of other accommodation providers? Satya Mehta : We are different, rather unique in 3 ways (A) We majorly work in B2B or B2B2C model (B) We are the only student housing company which is community-driven rather than design-driven or Technology or Space Driven (C) We curate community and common areas depending on organizations requirements Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Satya Mehta : (A) Pandemic Slowed down the expansion (B) B2B model is a time-consuming sales process Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Roompe Pvt Ltd? Satya Mehta : Our Major Focus is Tier - 2 Indian Cities & Universities (including private, IIMs, IITs) & Corporates with a minimum commitment of 80+ Beds, and in either of B2B or B2B2C model In the next 5 years, we will be having 5000+ beds across 10 cities of India. We are also actively engaging with VCs and Institutional Investors who can come in as strategic advisor Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Satya Mehta : Do everything by yourself for at least 1-2 years of initial days. Right from website, design, sales, purchase to operations, we both co-founders have managed ourselves. We will only learn by trying, sometimes failing and some time winning

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Viraj Parakh : Me and my co-founders were all working in similar spaces, either of the operational front or on the client side of this kind of business. And we all were facing similar issues with the companies that were into this space. While having coffee on one of the lazy Sunday afternoons, we thought starting our own venture into this space. Great Companies: What are the various products and Services provided by Boxtron International Private Limited Viraj Parakh : Boxtron is addressing returnable packaging needs of the automotive industry with plans to scale up in the sectors of agriculture, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Boxtron is fast advancing from a packaging asset leasing player to a holistic service provider for returnable packaging. Boxtron provides customised packaging solutions on rental basis by giving clients the freedom of using PaaS (Packaging-as-a-Service). Great Companies: What makes Boxtron International Private Limited different from hundreds of other industrial packaging firms? Viraj Parakh : Boxtron is providing customised solution to clients which no one else in the country is doing. Our competitors follow a one-size-fits-all concept, which Boxtron is completely against as each requirement is different and needs to be treated differently for maximum efficiency and cost-benefit. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Viraj Parakh : Currently, this being a capital intensive business, we have a lot of projects on hand and our clients are eager to give us more and more orders. But sometime the investment is an issue. Till date the company is bootstrapped and doing a positive cashflow each month. From FY19-20 to FY20-21 we had 200X growth. If we have to keep up to this pace, we need a good investor or a strategic partner to back us. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Boxtron International Private Limited? Viraj Parakh : The future looks very very healthy and strong for Boxtron. The next 5 years we plan to scale up in other areas like FMCG, Electronics and Pharma markets as well. In the near future, we plan to have a Sales, Marketing and operations team in place. Sustainable packaging is the way of the future and Boxtron doesn’t plan to look back. We also plan to cater to the B2C segment with very innovative product offerings Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Viraj Parakh : Patience is the key. Whether it is in terms of gaining your first client or whether it is terms of financial returns. We worked effortlessly for 9 months before we scored our first client. Of course the thought of quitting and going back to a comfortable corporate job crossed my mind, its human tendency, but hanging in there was the right choice. Also entrepreneurship in itself is a tough path, if it would have been easy, everyone would do it. As I always like to say, you need to have a skin of a Rhino to be a successful entrepreneur.

A NON-PROFITS ORGANIZATION FOR THE SOCIETIES AGATHA SUSHILA DIAS Born in the Madar area of Ajmer in Rajasthan, Agatha Sushila Dias. After serving people in remote villages of Madhya Pradesh and slum clusters in Andheri and Bangalore for over a decade, she along with a committed team of social workers, doctors and lawyers joined hands to launch an organization named Amcha Ghar- a home for orphaned and underprivileged girls on 14, April-1996. AMCHA Ghar Amcha Ghar(Our Home) is registered as a Non-profit organization under Societies registration Act 1860 and The Bombay Public Trust Act 1950 in Thane in the year 1996. Since then Organization has been creating impact at scale through key flagship initiatives & contributes towards attainment of 7 sustainable development goals which focuses on zero hunger-SDG 2, Good health and Wellbeing -SDG 3, Access to quality education-SDG 4, Gender equality through education-SDG5, providing access to Clean water and Sanitation-SDG 6, and empowering youth and women at grassroot through Sustainable livelihood-SDG8, building sustainable communities through strategic partnership with Government, corporates and non-profits-SGD 11. Amcha Ghar accommodates 25 girls who get all facilities including-education,food,medical aid, and spiritual facilities in a homely atmosphere till they are independent. Notably, Amcha Ghar has so far managed more than 100 girls helping them get back into the mainstream of society. While some are being provided assistance for higher education, many of them have settled after bagging jobs in reputed multinational companies. “While going through a sexual abuse case, the girl’s mother said to me that you work for 8 hours a day and go back home in a safe environment, but what happens to these girls at night, who do not have a safe living situation, the question stunned me and a year later Amcha Ghar was launched.” says Dias. Since 1996 the organization has impacted more than 1,00,000 direct lives through its flagship programs across geographies and themes. Our strategic approach to stakeholder engagement, innovative programs, specialized teams with expertise makes our proposition stand out amongst others in the development sector. AMCHA PROGRAMS: AMCHA GHAR BALGRUH (ORPHANAGE) It is a shelter home for the underprivileged, orphan & semi-orphan girls, between the age group of 6-18 years. A home that started with 4 beneficiaries is now a home for 25. Apart from residence, these beneficiaries are given formal English Medium education, medical, recreational, self-defense, and spiritual facilities in a homely atmosphere until they become independent and are able to join the mainstream of the society. This home functions under the Juvenile Justice Act (J J Act) & the beneficiaries that come to Amcha Ghar are sanctioned by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). Nearly 90 beneficiaries of Amcha Ghar Balgruh have been re-integrated back into the society. They are either married or have completed their higher studies like Civil engineering, MBA, MA, hotel management, IATA, computer hardware, fashion designing, interior designing, nursing, D.ed studies, etc. This has led our beneficiaries in joining the international cruise liners IT dept. and food & beverage service. Some are working as teachers in govt. schools, digital executives at corporate travel companies, receptionists at reputed pharmaceutical companies, accountants at automation companies, etc. Facilities at Balgruh : ​ Medical Check-ups: The health condition of all inmates is monitored periodically by a Registered Medical Practitioner. Dental / Eye check-up camps are also conducted. Recreation: TV set and music system/Alexa has been provided in the common hall for entertainment along with access to the tabloids for their online classes. Birthdays of girls, all festivals, etc are celebrated. Therapy and Counseling: They are provided counseling through regular counselors appointed for the purpose to take care of the mental health of the girls so that they cope up with trauma and mental stresses. Ex-curricular Activities: With the active engagement of Volunteers, the inner talent/potential of the daughters is explored. The special impetus is given to promote these innate potential. Yoga and evening prayers are regularly organized. Future Expansion Plan: The organization is considering enhancing the present capacity to 50 girls and the need to construct a garden house for them as the current place can only occupy 25 beneficiaries according to CWC. ​ EDUCATION SUPPORT PROGRAM AMCHA GHAR ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL & JUNIOR COLLEGE OF ARTS, COMMERCE & SCIENCE Amcha Ghar believes in providing the best quality English medium education to the grass-root level of the backward society with an aim to empower them, which in return helps to eradicate poverty, unemployment, child labor, etc. Hence, it started its own English medium high school & Junior college of Arts, Commerce & Science in the year 2002 & 2018 respectively for the underprivileged children of the village Uttan & various nearby villages, otherwise they would have been devoid of a good education. Amcha Ghar English English High School & Junior College is a government-recognized educational institution. There are around 800 children who are getting an education on subsidized fees as it is said free given never valued. School is under state board and it holds ‘A’ class standard. It gives the opportunity for the students to complete with the city children as Amcha Ghar is an NGO. The main motto is to bridge the gap between the rich & the poor and to promote the holistic development of the students. Almost 2000+ students have received education at Amcha Ghar English high school & Junior College since 2002. At present Amcha Ghar English High School & Junior College has over 600 students enrolled for the academic year 2020-21. It offers education from Pre-Primary to Std XIIth and has 42 staff members which includes teaching, and nonteaching staff. It provides clean & filtered drinking water, school bus facility to pick up and drop off students from within the radius of 5km. Weekly, nutritional food like Poshtik Aahaar, Khichdi packets, Biscuits, etc are provided to the students. GROUP OF PRE-PRIMARY ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOLS Amcha Ghar has opened 5 Pre-Primary Schools in the nearby villages of Bhatia, Pali, Morva, Murdha, and at main school premises. Around 400 students avail the benefits of doorstep education. They are provided with nutritious food every week. MIGRANT ANGELS EDUCATION Amcha Ghar has taken an initiative to provide English medium Education & nutrition to needy Maharashtrian Hindu Warli community (Tribal) children who loiter around during the day while their parents go to do their daily labor jobs at construction sites. These children live in unhygienic conditions, without proper food, clothing, and other basic necessities. Hence, Amcha Ghar provides them with nutrition, education, clothing, medical care & other basic necessities. CAMPAIGN AND ACTIVITIES PROJECT HEALING ANGELS Project ‘Healing Angels’ an Amcha Ghar initiative, aims at providing financial support to the poor under-privileged children in the hospital. These children are deprived of their treatment due to being financially challenged. Amcha Ghar believes that every child attains the right to survival. DISASTER RELIEF Amcha Ghar has initiated disaster Relief project “Fight Against Covid Emergency '' and to provide daily need support to the poor under-privileged children in the nearby areas. These people are daily wage workers who have lost their jobs and are facing many other challenges. Amcha Ghar believes that every single person has the right to live with happiness. AGATHA FELICITATED WITH: (Awards & Recognition) Amcha Ghar Founder Agatha featured as one of the Top10 Women Entrepreneurs in India in Forbes Magazine. Honoured by World Book of Records-London in the year 2021 Won Indian Achievers Awards Peace Ambassador of IWPG Publicity Ambassador of HWPL MBMC Mayor- Jyotsna Hasnale and Deputy Mayor- Hasmukh Gehlot felicitated Agatha Sushila Dias for her achievement. Apart from scholarships for girls and extending a helping hand to senior citizens, Amcha Ghar also plays a significant role in running several balwadis in tribal villages near uttan with an aim to impart education in English language. Impact (1996-2021) AMCHA GHAR has Impacted 1,319,469 direct lives through core interventions In Uttan since 1996 Amcha Ghar City : Bhayander Country : India Website URL : www.amchaghar.org

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Premendra Singh: I had been working in the field of fire safety for more than a decade when I was approached by one of my clients to provide a fire-proof material for industrial use. I thought that it would be a simple matter of just sourcing the material. However once my team and I started searching we were surprised to find that there was no suitable material in the market. It was at this point that the idea for TiFi (our indigenously developed fire-proof material) was born. It took us more than eighteen months of hard work including R&D to be able to come up with a satisfactory solution. Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Securefire Safety Industries Pvt Ltd? Premendra Singh: Securefire Safety Industries Pvt Ltd is committed to provide a one stop solution in the field of fire safetyn and heat insulation . We aim to provide a wide range of products including fire-suits, various fire-fighting equipment, fire safety equipments (fire doors, heat shields etc.) industrial insulation solutions.Our focus area is also to provide innovative, customized and cutting edge fire safety related solutions to our armed forces, fire brigade and all kinds of major industries. Great Companies: What makes Securefire Safety Industries Pvt Ltd different from hundreds of other safety firms? Premendra Singh: When we were developing our business idea the team was very clear that we wanted to find a business model that had a larger social relevance/impact. During our research we had realized that the fire accidents were a source of great human tragedy in terms of the lives lost and an obvious financial loss too. The existing fire safety technology and equipment in the country were not up to the mark and failed to prevent many avoidable loss of life and property. So we decided to focus on this segment to ensure that the scope and magnitude of this human tragedy is reduced with improved technology and equipment. We also want to contribute to the national defense effort by enabling the armed forces with innovative, customized and cutting edge fire safety related solutions. Finally we want to ensure through indigenous technology and products that India has a bigger footprint in the international fire safety market, currently it is below 2%. At this point of time our patents are filed or published in 5 countries eg. INDIA, USA, CANADA, CHINA, UAE & SAUDI ARABIA. we are approved & supported by NRDC, DSIR, supported by MHRD (imprint) for further R&D in association with IIT KANPUR and just a few days before (7th June 2021) awarded as winner by DRDO under India's one of the prestigious contest: dare to dream 2.0 for our innovative work for year 2020-21. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Premendra Singh: The biggest challenge that I faced was the apathy and lack of respect/support that exists in our society towards research, only the monetary aspects are respected. I had to put my career on hold for almost 3 years while we were involved in research, experimentation and product development. This was a period of intense struggle and disappointment as friends, even some family members and society at large failed to provide encouragement and material support. My mother was my primary inspiration as she continued to encourage me and kept me motivated. This culture of chasing only money and not supporting innovation/R&D is very harmful. In the last few years of course things have improved in terms of support and funding for innovation. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Securefire Safety Industries Pvt Ltd? Premendra Singh: Our primary target is to ensure that these technologically advanced materials based cold/heat insulation and fire-fighting equipment reach all the fire fighting departments in India. We also want to reduce the dependence foreign products for high quality fire safety products especially in the defense sector. We are targeting a turnover of 100 crores over a period of two years. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Premendra Singh: I would advice any budding innovator/entrepreneur that to prevent disappointment and fatigue. They must have small and doable milestones that keep the motivation going. Celebrate each milestone and move on to the next. Keep confident, calm till you achieve your dream in full by keeping your killing attitude at top. Till then never jump to other goal.

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Zaheer Abbas Sayed : I joined Financial Planning Academy (FPA) a few years after it was already in existence, however the product we launched was ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountant) which was a new ball game for all the promoters. As I was already into training at various colleges and pvt institutes for several years, realised that training was my passion, so followed the inner calling and set up the ACCA vertical at FPA. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Financial Planning Academy Zaheer Abbas Sayed : We provide training for several professional and globally accepted courses like ACCA, CFP, CMA, CPA and soon launching CFA as well. So it's a one stop shop for students who want to upskill for this very challenging and constantly evolving job market. Great Companies: What makes Financial Planning Academy different from hundreds of other Financial Educational Institutes? Zaheer Abbas Sayed : Our mission is to bridge the knowledge gap between academics and industry, for which we work with colleges across all the cities like Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Lucknow, Raipur, etc. Our constant endeavour is to make sure students are ready for the intense demands of working in an industry, something they don't realise while at College and Uni. So not only do we provide training for these courses, we provide placement assistance where we use our extensive B2B network to place them at Big 4's and MNC's as well as train them for interviews, help prepare resumes, etc. So we are with the students throughout their journey, from a student who just cleared their 10th exams to a qualified working professional. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Zaheer Abbas Sayed : Covid has been a difficult time for all including us since it's not always easy to convince the students to study online, let alone for such high intense courses like ACCA. However we overcame this struggle fairly quickly where the students realised that our online sessions were equally good if not better than the face to face classroom sessions. This helped us immensely; and despite the working capital challenges that we faced at the outbreak of covid, we were able to comfortably close the financial year including never before hikes to the team members. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for a Financial Planning Academy? Zaheer Abbas Sayed : We are focusing all our energies to utlise the Tech to the max possible. We have recently invested in a big way on Learning Management Systems, Telephony system, Internal Control and MIS, all of this is done to lay the groundwork of becoming a Global player in delivery of international qualifications. We have recently set up a centre at Bahrain, and soon opening up at Mauritius with plans to cover most of the middle east and south eastern countries over the next 3 years. So lots happening, and we want to thank all the students, colleges, partners and most importantly our team members who have kept faith in us over the years and helped us grow from strength to strength. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Zaheer Abbas Sayed : Find the right people to work with, even if the returns are less and slow, ensure you are surrounded by people you can trust and blindly put faith in. The entrepreneurial journey is like a roller-coaster ride, and you need the right people when things go down for it to come back again.