Entrepreneurship is all about pushing boundaries — personal & professional. Meet Rupal Agarwal, who is a homeopath, Nikhil Agarwal, who has done his MBA & Varun Shah, who has pursued his CA. Building on their core strength of providing effective 360 degrees strategic consulting, they founded a management consultancy firm called Mind-a-Mend Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. They have an expert division of the company called 'Your Retail Coach' that develops SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for B2C companies and equips them to manage their business more effectively & to grow. The group is operational for the last 5 years & have expanded their presence across India & Dubai. They have also authored several articles in their domain expertise in Indian as well as international magazines, thus helping the unorganised sector, get organised.

In conversation with GlobalLinker (GL) Rupal Agarwal (RA) shares their business journey.

GL: Tell us about your business and how it came into being.

RA: I finished my undergraduate study of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) at DY Patil Homeopathic Medical College in 2009. My journey started with Core Wellness Ltd, a company specialising in healthcare training for corporates. They used to conduct stress management and lifestyle management training for companies like ONGC at their rigs and platforms. I worked with Core Wellness for almost a year where I honed my training skills and decided to venture into training all by myself. Thus, ‘Mind-A-Mend’ was born in 2010 as a training company. In the year of inception itself we bagged training orders for corporates like Vodafone, Bank of Baroda, Somaiya and Associates and many more.

My spouse, Nikhil Agarwal, came back to India from the UK after completing his MSc in International Business & Finance and joined the firm as a partner. Providing, ‘SOP’ i.e. Standard Operating Procedures as a service was his brainchild. He strongly believed that the effectiveness of the trainings could be improved if every organisation had a strong platform of policies, procedures and systems in place. His studies & overseas experience, gave us an edge in developing SOPs. His patience and perseverance help us deal with the most complicated operational issues and his positive attitude gives us farsightedness.

SOPs were incomplete without the finance & accounting component added them. Varun Shah, who is the third partner was pursuing his Chartered Accountancy at the same time. He joined us while pursuing his CA and is now a financial as well as operational consultant. His analytic skills help us evaluate the best amongst the worst bets. He knows “What not to do” with money which is an eye-opener for our clients. Numbers being his first best friend, he manages the numbers right from evaluation to valuation.

As we ventured into the retail sector, we realised, only 8% of Indian retailers are organised, whereas, the rest, more than 90% retailers are unorganised and run their business traditionally. We found huge scope in the ‘retail field’ but at the same time there was a lack of awareness amongst retailers if services of these kinds exist. Thus, in 2012, Mind-A-Mend started with its expert service division ‘Your Retail Coach’ where we developed SOPs especially for the retail sector. Since then, there has been no looking back.

In 2014, Mind-A-Mend started with a new service of ‘Management’ wherein we manage the entire showroom operations right from staff, stock and sales, on behalf of the client. We have in-house Retail Operations Experts, who are trained vigorously by an HR team and then placed at the client’s showroom to manage it in an organised way. 

I handle the Business Development and Marketing Division for Mind-A-Mend. I am a people’s person, and have always loved understanding the psychology & behaviour of individuals around me. I do think I have the pace to drive everybody in the organisation. My attitude is that ‘everything is possible’ and that has helped us achieve some implausible outcomes.

GL: What are the challenges you have faced in establishing your business?

RA: Dealing with family-run organisations was the biggest challenge when we started the business. These organisations run without any systems, processes and policies and convincing them of the fact that we, being half of their age, would be consulting them, was a challenge. Over a period of 6 years now, we have converted this to our strength.

GL: Do you believe that the ‘ease of doing business’ in India has improved?

RA: Ease of doing business has improved and more and more people are now looking at diversification and expansion.  This helps us. Our services are useful for any organisation looking for expansion.

GL: What is the USP of your business?

RA: The USP of our business is:

• Domain knowledge
• International experience
• Implementation support
• Customised approach

GL: What are some of the milestones of your business?

RA: We have been awarded by Silicon Review Magazine as the ‘Top 10 Fastest Growing Retail Management Companies in India’.  Our articles have been recognised & regularly published by international magazines like ‘The Intelligent SME’.

GL: What role do you feel GlobalLinker plays in connecting & assisting SMEs?

RA: GlobalLinker is an excellent platform where serious business happens. GlobalLinker is helping in developing and expanding our network just by a click. It is great to see the support and motivation that we get from the GlobalLinker team which keeps us active and hooked to the platform.

GL: What is your big business dream?

RA: Our big business dream is to become one of the leading B2C Management Consulting companies across the globe.

GL: What is your message to aspiring entrepreneurs?

RA: Persevere. Don’t forget the power of compounding!!

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