Impact, Innovation and Content, the Key to our Success -Bhavya Desai
In today’s buzz-filled media landscape, dynamism is of utmost importance to the viewers. Whether it’s the pulsating excitement of a web series or the learners’ spirit of a podcast, various youth-centric elements are strongly desired by the audience. This demand for ‘fresh content’ has necessitated young entrepreneurs to constantly seek new ideas and innovations.
Acknowledging this demand of the industry, Bhavya Desai, Group Head, SAP MEDIA WORLDWIDE LTD, a young media entrepreneur, has successfully influenced and impacted the businesses in the media environment. The Group’s brands have been instrumental in spurring many trailblazing innovations in the industry. His specialty lies in his remarkable ability to analyze and innovate dynamic market trends, making him a Young Influential Business Leader to Follow in 2021.
An Overview of the Company
As the face of SAP Media, Bhavya takes pride in the company’s brands that have a long-standing reputation and have been in the industry for over 33 years. His company comprises of four verticals, viz., Magazines, Digital, Exhibitions/Events and Show Daily ™ Newspapers. Each of these verticals has its sub-brands and function independently, yet ensure optimal support and co-relation to each other in ensuring a 360-degree value chain for the customers. The company’s product portfolio, too, is quite comprehensive and encompasses a multitude of domains – from photography to lifestyle. All of SAP Media’s products are leaders in their respective category/segments, while some even have the unique distinction of being the only products from Asia in a global space.
Innovation = Success
Since the beginning, innovation has always been at the heart of what we do and this is more reminiscent during these challenging times. The brand was the first in the media space to bring the concept of the Show Daily ™ to India, nearly three decades ago. Over the years, it has continued the trend by bringing numerous other ‘first-of-a-kind’ concepts.
Amidst the current pandemic, we recognized the change and need for dynamic innovation within the brand’s covered categories. We quickly recognized the need for engaging content during the lockdown, urging the team to innovate and create engaging talk shows, panel discussions, podcasts, and seminars. These were slowly replicated by the brands in the industries that they are in as well as competitor brands.
Influence and Impact on encompassant industries
One of the things that he learned from his mentor, his father, is placing emphasis on R&D, Bhavya spurs his team to constantly study the market and leverage on the ongoing trends. These continuous efforts are reflected in the company’s products and services that influence and impact the encompassant industries.
From successfully created IPs to enabling strong platforms to connect the brands to customers,SAP MEDIA has ensured an environment that allows for exploring, engaging, and interacting with its leading products.
On Entrepreneurial Challenges
Often, people deem second-generation entrepreneurs to be the products of ancestral success. There’s a common notion that everything is handed to them down on a platter. The reality, however, is far from it.
Being a second-generation entrepreneur, he has had to endure his fair share of challenges in his journey. For starters, he had to gain significant work experience before moving up the ranks. He worked in every department of the company amassing experience, grabbing any opportunity that came his way. While this was hard, it was still manageable compared to changing the ‘on a platter’ perception of people. “I see many young leaders who are dismissed of their due credit simply because of their lineage. Being handed over stuff is one thing, but justifiably deserving it, quite another,” says Bhavya. He had to earn the respect of his employees by proving himself through time.
But it is important to not loose that spirit and drive. While it’s okay to feel bogged down at times, it definitely is NOT okay to let it affect your work quality. According to him, the compromise in quality trickles down to the team. It is for this reason that a leader should keep motivating himself despite the overwhelm.
A Healthy Team is a Wealthy Team
As a leader, Bhavya feels that it’s unequivocally important to appreciate and applaud the work of your team. And this isn’t just pertinent to your work environment; it means appreciating people in any environment, especially when it’s deserved. He feels that this vital quality is missing in most people nowadays; it’s common to see people/leaders who take all the credit for their team’s efforts.
He has seen umpteen cases across numerous fields, both on personal and professional levels where individuals are so hungry for success and recognition that they fail to acknowledge the contribution of others, and this indicates a great failure on the leader’s end.
Importance of a Work-Life Balance
While Bhavya wholeheartedly believes in maintaining a work-life balance, he feels that it’s easier said than done. He admits that it’s quite difficult to disconnect or ‘turn off’ from work as a leader, even when you are not.
The young entrepreneur ensures that he always finds time to pursue his hobbies and interests, as they act as a fitness regime and also help him unwind from the monotony of work. He explains that in order to be the best at work, you absolutely need to be in a good mental space. With the current Work-From-Home scenario, however, he feels that his personal and professional schedules have lost their distinction to some extent. Some of his weekdays seem like weekends, while some of his weekends seem like weekdays.
Plans For The Future
Currently, SAP Media is focused on continually building its digital footprint, as they’ve been getting great success doing it. That, however, doesn’t mean that they don’t have plans for its primary business. The brand has some interesting plans for the future, which it will reveal shortly.
A Message To Upcoming Entrepreneurs
Urging upcoming entrepreneurs to be resilient in the face of challenges, Bhavya says that we should always give it our all while chasing our dreams. Here’s his message: “The journey to success is never easy. If it was, everyone would tread on it. So, ensure that you give it your best shot without thinking of the end goal all the time. There are times when things aren’t in your circle of influence and it’s pointless to think about them.”
http://www.sapmagazines.com/
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