The Brand Called You

"To create a strong business, you need to master two things, first one is to create energy, another one is to build a character."  These words of wisdom are given to us by a business expert and our guest for today's episode, Christo Popov. Christo is a very learned and experienced person in the field of business. He has worked with over 25 startups and knows about every nerve of a business. He is the Founder and CEO of Fast Track, a leading consulting company. He has also worked with Shell and SABMiller. He has also spent a year in India studying about Vedanta, Bhagavad Gita, Buddhism and Zen. He is a member of YPO.

Networking, they say, is about planting relationships. Today’s guest, Mr. Nick Jonnson, who runs a networking organization talks about specializing in peer small groups. He is the founder and managing director of Executives’ Global Network, Singapore. Uniquely, he also aims to help alleviate the loneliness that usually comes to people at the top. He is an author, speaker, athlete, and mental health educator. Driven by a mission, he works relentlessly to remove the stigma associated with mental health in workplaces.

Whenever we think of opting for a government service, the preconceived notion is that it would be very slow and would take a lot of time and visits for the job being done. One also has to bribe at different levels to get the service. To eliminate this unsatisfactory practice and bring systemic changes to the government system, our guest for today, Gaurav Goel, took a step. Gaurav is the Founder and CEO of Samagra, which is a mission-driven consulting firm. Gaurav tells us that the core thesis of Samagra is better governance as a lever to create large scale impact, fundamentally believing that while a lot of things can be done outside of the system, but if one wants to touch millions, especially the underprivileged and transform their lives, one has to work with the political and government processes. Samagra was founded about nine years ago and since then it has been working with different state governments to improve the system processes.

It has been rightly said, “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” Fitness is not just about becoming a model. It’s about self-awareness that leads to spiritual and mental well-being. In today’s episode of The Brand Called You, we have Charlie Johnson, a personalised fitness coach and a founder of Charlie Johnson Fitness. He has been on Forbes Magazine’s list of the top three coaches. Tune in to listen to his thoughts on the importance of fitness for people of all ages.

Change is eternal. As time is passing, everything is changing, or we can say, transforming. People are transforming, psychology is transforming, the way of looking at things is transforming, likewise, organisations and their structures are also transforming. In this episode of The Brand Called You, we bring you a transformation enthusiast, Jagdish Belwal. Jagdish is the founder and CEO of the Jagdish Belwal Advisory. He is a board mentor and has an organization called Critical Eye. He is the former CIO of Tata Motors. He has also been awarded, recognized and felicitated several times.

We often come across the realization that nobody on earth can love us more than our parents. The bond with them goes beyond all disagreements and arguments. Now imagine the plight of those young kids who lose their parents! They are left all alone with their vulnerabilities to grow up in society. SOS Children's Villages, a non-government global organization, was made after the second world war to look after such kids who are all alone in this big wide world. Tune in to listen to this organization's work with the President of SOS Children’s Villages India, Mr. Rakesh Jinsi. SOS Children’s Villages is a global non-government organization working for the holistic development and normal upbringing of parent-less children.

A huge percentage of Indians are still living under the below poverty line. There are a large number of people whose annual family income is below 2.5 lakhs. Money isn't everything, but it is very important when it comes to fulfilling dreams. This is a major problem. But, there does not exist a problem that doesn't have a solution. Foundation For Excellence is an organization, which is working for such talented individuals. They fund the education of academically brilliant students and support them to study. In this episode, we have the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Foundation For Excellence, Ram Kolavennu, with us. Foundation For Excellence (FFE) is a 25-year-old social enterprise, which is determined to support financially weak academically brilliant students, who have aspirations and want to continue their studies. FFE funds their education.

Often considered and left underdeveloped, rural India has people with undiscovered aptitude. We often talk about development in rural India, but it is only possible if we include them in the process. Today’s guest, Mr. Ajay Chaturvedi, a banker turned entrepreneur, is a great believer in people and their untapped potential. He is the founder of HarVa XPO that entered the Limca Book of Records for being the first all-woman BPO in rural India. Ajay recalls how his travels to some parts of India as a banker made him realize the potential in Indian rural communities. He calls India a producer's economy as opposed to a consumer’s economy.

When we think of making an investment, we either think of investing into real estate or other high-end things. These things are not always available for common people with less salary. To make the opportunities of investments available for common people, Rohas Nagpal and his team are working on a project called The Wrapped Assets Project. Our guest for today, Rohas Nagpal has a keen understanding of technology, blockchains, and the cyber world. He is the Chief Blockchain Architect of the Wrapped Asset Project. Rohas started his career in early 90s in the field of hacking, then he moved to investigation and cyber security. In the year 1999, Rohas co-founded the Asian School of Cyber Laws to educate people about the cyber world and to do real-world investigations.

Today, we have Mr. K. Jayshankar, the Managing Director of Empowered learning Systems, Pvt Ltd, a business consulting organization. He is an executive coach for some top global business leaders and United Nations officials. He has also written a book on family business, “Succeeding in Business: Nurturing Values in Family Business”. Mr. Jayshankar calls him a student of family business owing to the love he has for studying it. He discusses the family business in India, stating how some businesses have been running on for more than 300 years now. He explains how a first-generation lays the foundation for the business, the second generation consolidates it and then, it lies on the third generation to decide what to do with it.