#WomenDisruptors: Comfort is your enemy. Seek discomfort - Kavita Koserwal

We, at Adgully, have always saluted and honoured women managers and leaders across diverse fields. ‘Women Disruptors’ is Adgully’s special initiative to bring to the fore some remarkable women achievers in M&E, Advertising, Marketing, Communications industries, how they think, how they manage things, how they lead from the front and much more.  

Kavita Koserwal, Director & CEO, Orcomm Advertising, began her early career in journalism with leading Hindi news channel Aaj Tak. After dabbling in journalism, she decided to be an entrepreneur and co-founded Orcomm Advertising along with her husband in the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, Indore. Hailing from a business family, the spirit of standing on her own and turning up as a true entrepreneur was in her DNA. Her primary focus was to cater the Tier 2 and 3 cities and help brands grow from these cities. 

With her high level of energy and deep understanding of grass root marketing, Koserwal has managed to create some exciting communication strategy for their clients. Today, based out of Indore, she manages clients from the East & South markets. Her belief as an entrepreneur is that, there is huge potential for business in smaller cities provided you are able to understand the market there and provide the right solutions. 

When did the entrepreneurial bug bite you? What was the reason?

I come from a business family and was exposed to the basics of ‘dhandha’ right from my childhood, seeing my uncles work. But did I want to be an entrepreneur? Not at all. Actually, I stumbled upon entrepreneurship. I was at the peak of my journalistic career. I was on a dream run as a recognised TV news reporter with Aaj Tak, building up a reputation of being a ‘story breaker’ and ‘terrorist specialist’ in Bangalore. But when family called, I decided to hang up my mic and moved to Indore in 2008 with no plans whatsoever. One thing I always knew I was good at, and that is connecting with people. And after a couple of months of scouting for the right opportunity, I started my first venture in Event Management, with focus on customer connect BTL activities which were seriously looked out for and at the same time missing in Central India. 

From humble beginnings, today the agency has grown into a full-fledged agency offering 360-degree communication, creating hard working campaigns. 

What is the one thing that motivated and excited you to be an entrepreneur?

As an employee whatever you do you do it for yourself, whether it is meeting deadlines or financial goals. In the process you also become a small part of your organisation’s success. Entrepreneurship is the absolute opposite of this. I thrive on human connections. I love connecting with people and exchanging intangible values with them. This is what motivated me to get into the business of communication, because, this is one business that gives you the opportunity to connect with people from nearly all walks of life, an array of thought-processes and a gamut of emotions. Also, as an entrepreneur you wake up every morning facing new challenges and opportunities to add value to your clients’ brands, their customers’ lives, your own employees and to your own life. 

Any role model that you had in the entrepreneur space?

As a journalist I’ve had the opportunity to interact with many stalwarts of the business world. Whilst each one of them have touched my life and thinking with their approach towards the humane side of their business, I attribute my baptism into entrepreneurship to Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, who actually told me that I was made for entrepreneurship. And I got my mantra of being a successful entrepreneur from Ratan Tata himself, who during one of our interactions told me that ‘you should earn money with respect’. 

When did you think of taking a deep dive to become an entrepreneur?

Having worked in the Tier 2 and 3 markets across Madhya Pradesh/ Chhattisgarh through my BTL venture, I realised the potential of these markets and their consumers, and at the same time I also saw the opportunities that we had ahead of us. We were doing great work and it was yielding results for our clients. That was when I co-founded Orcomm with Amit, and reached out to clients of national repute. Luckily for us, all the clients that we approached were looking for answers we had for them. They placed their bets on us and have been reaping dividends as well. 

Are there any valuable tips that you would like to share to be a great entrepreneur?

It is very difficult to give advice when you yourself are learning the ropes. I would, however, like to share a few learnings. 

Entrepreneurship is a 24x7x365 ‘responsibility’. It goes beyond balance-sheets and bottom-lines. You are responsible for creating value for every stakeholder. Your responsibility and commitments to your client should be your highest priority.

I would like to pass on the mantra I got from Ratan Tata – “earn money with respect.” Because money cannot earn you respect; but respect can surely get you money. 

Comfort is your enemy. Seek discomfort. Never become complacent. Keep innovating and constantly thinking on your toes. Always think of a big idea when developing a campaign for your client.