The Brand Called You

This is the story of the son of a fashion designer, who used to see a lot of cloth being wasted in his mother's outlets. That boy decided to give those waste clothes a good life. To fulfill this mission of his, he founded 'Kapdaa - The Offcut Company'. He is also the founder of The Sustainable Hub. We are talking about none other than Nish Parekh. Nish tells us that whenever a garment is made, there is always some cloth leftover in the manufacturing place. That leftover cloth, which is a waste from the manufacturer's perspective is the offcut fabric. This fabric, if put together, is a lot of fabric that is generating waste. Or when a company buys extra cloth for backup while manufacturing a garment. That extra fabric is left with no use is also offcut.

Artificial Intelligence is certainly making our lives simpler. We can see the use of Artificial Intelligence everywhere. However, there are several misconceptions about Artificial Intelligence as well. For this episode of The Brand Called You, we have invited the Artificial Intelligence expert, Neel Pandya. Neel is the CEO of Pixis for Europe and APEC, which is a global Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure startup. He earlier worked at L'oreal. He moved out of his comfort zone, left his job at L'oreal and started to work at Pixis. His name is also mentioned among India's top 40 disruptive minds. Neel Pandya is working on the integration of AI in marketing and branding.

Today, we have Danielle Lim, an award-winning author of three books. She talks about her view of relating with the readers. Danielle talks about her urge to connect with readers as a writer. She feels writing is not just about technique, but about understanding life and people. She talks further about the meaning of a successful story. Furthermore, she emphasizes on the importance of it being both personal and universal.

A well-defined strategy supports a business vision and mission. With the rapidly changing business environment, it is important to have sharp foresight. It helps in better planning, execution, and monitoring to achieve the goals. However, critical thinking and imagination are key to having a foresight strategy. In today's episode, we have Patricia Lustig, a practitioner in Strategic Foresight and Strategy Building. She is also the author who educates the masses through academic and storytelling writing. Let’s dive into the episode to understand the importance of futuristic thinking.

Emma rightly says, "Purpose-driven is the whole new definition and a whole new goal for our generation". Emma Hoch, the YNG (YPO NextGen) Global Impact Officer, is from Germany. She is a One Young World Ambassador. She is studying politics, psychology, law, and economics. She is also a co-founder of a mobile app called 'WONDR'. She is our guest for this episode of The Brand Called You. In the very interesting conversation with our host, she talks about various things including the work and operations of YNG and the areas covered by the organization. She also tells us what makes the younger generation so purpose-driven. Later in the conversation, she tells us about the mobile app she is building. In the conversation, we also get a glimpse of her personal life and what keeps her motivated.

The Indian road transport carries goods worth billions of dollars a year. Infrastructure forms the backbone of a country with culturally different regions. It is paramount that the infrastructure runs smoothly. Logistics plays a critical role in it. The detail to planning and what might otherwise seem trivial may throw away the system if not accounted for. Today, we have Mr. Anjani Mandal, the Co-founder, and CEO of Fortigo Networks Lt, Trucks network. Fortigo was established in 2015 to address the logistical challenges of the supply chain and distribution business. It works to organize the unorganized sector to promote productivity and efficiency. He talks about cloud-based solutions for easy access of goods to the end-users.

Discussing how leaders are made, our guest for today, John Davis tells us that all are influenced by our social circumstances. Our peers and other people around us give inputs on how we are going to be shaped as a human being. We sometimes fall into circumstances where such a moment arises where we need to lead. There is no textbook or a set of answers that can help us in those circumstances. This is when we build our leadership talent, supported by the collaborative spirit of our peers. John Davis is the Chairman of Brand New View. It is a leadership firm that helps businesses in becoming a force of social and economic good.

We have seen technology changing the world in ways one can never have thought. With the world always leaving people with disability at the side, there is an increasing awareness among people to help them be on par with others. Technology has played a tremendous role in building products and services that empower people with disability. Christopher Patnoe, the Head of Accessibility Programs and Disability Inclusion for EMEA, Google speaks about the importance of such products and maintaining an inclusive hiring process and diverse workforce. He defines disability as the importance of realizing it’s not about you.

Building a good career requires passion, hard work and life. One needs to focus extensively to understand the field well. People keep working in the same field all their lives which is also coherent. But our guest for today, Mr. Alexander Rinnooy Kan, is one of those who not only shift their careers after sometime but also manage all of them simultaneously. Alexander is in academia, he is a renowned board member and also has political roles. He successfully manages all the roles simultaneously. Alexander Rinnooy Kan is a member of the Dutch Senate. He is the chairman of the Netherlands Social and Economic Council. He is a Board Member of the ING Group Executive. He is an emeritus professor at the University of Amsterdam.

Today, we have Mr. Karan Taurani, a Senior Vice President of Elara Capita and a seasoned media trends analyst, who discusses these issues. Karan talks about the huge film market in India producing around close to 1,600 feature films every year, of which a large chunk is a regional cinema, about 300 Hindi films, and around 150 foreign language films. Talking about the large scale of the film industry, he estimates it to be around twenty thousand dollars as per the pre-pandemic numbers.