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Actor-entrepreneur Vivek Oberoi opened up about how he leverages his personal brand for the benefit of the many companies that he has a stake in. Citing the example of his money-lending business for students, he said that he introduced a zero-interest payment plan, and used his personal brand to garner attention. He said that this paid huge dividends, and the company is now valued at around Rs 3,400 crore.
At a recent event in Mumbai, video of which was shared on the Franchise India YouTube channel, Vivek said, “I set up a start-up which was into education fee financing, non collateralised. It became very big. We reached 12,000 schools, colleges, and universities through a B2B network. But then we connected to the customer, and owned that data. We got to know our customer directly, which was 45 lakh individuals who were going to school or college. That was very rich data, and that’s how the company was valued at almost $400 million (around Rs 3,400 crore).”
He continued, “When I leveraged my brand, it had a positive social impact which was authentic to who I am, because I like doing things that create a positive social impact. One of the concepts we created was a zero-interest payment plan. For a lending company to create a zero-interest payment plan is itself an anomaly. But it worked very well, we made it work financially, and we made the company very successful and created value out of it.”
Vivek said that the company wouldn’t have garnered the same respect and attention had he sent his team into meetings. “But the minute I go, and grind it out as a start-up founder… Whenever I fly personally, I fly first class or business class. But whenever I fly for a company that I’m a co-founder of, I fly economy with the whole team. That resonance of team-building, that makes a massive impact, not only in terms of team morale, but also fiscal discipline,” Vivek said.
In a recent interview with the Indian Express, the actor opened up about pivoting to entrepreneurship when he was made to feel cornered in the film industry. “Business was always a Plan B, and I decided cinema will be my passion. My livelihood should be my business, which helped me earn my independence and get out of that whole trap of lobbies, or having to sell your soul or suck up to somebody that is no great way to live at least for me. Some people make a living out of it but for me, that’s not the case,” he said.
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