I am so happy to type the content for this page, it’s happening just because of some awesome people I have met in my life. Thank you, dear Elizabeth [chechy] Jikku [chetta] for the write-up about me.
I have felt the earth and watched saplings burst into trees; Botany allured me for a long while. The idea of growth elated me, and I came across a whole ecosystem that nourished, healed, and evolved together. I was wonderstruck to feel and watch it all unfold before me. I am a science graduate who completed a bachelor’s degree in Botany and began working as a research assistant in a Botanical Conservatory. The passion for growth slowly spread beyond my academic interests, and the ever-growing business ecosystems began to entice me. It gradually became my desire. To go after my ever-growing interest, I decided to carve out my path, and here begins the story of my entrepreneurial journey.
I was born and raised in a South Indian village as the only child of Govt employees. Belonging to a middle-class family in the state with the highest Human Development Index in India gave me access to well-off education. I went on to complete my college education in Botany and landed a well-paid job. But through the period, the business bug had already bitten me. It was a dire conflict of interests for me. To either choose a well-paved path or choose to take a plunge into the dark abyss. Realizing that I’d rather be the showrunner than merely remain apart, I decided the latter to be my life course.
I quit my job and joined a part-time MBA in Marketing and HR. My dream was to start something of my own but to meet the expenses; I started working with M/s. Exalt Integral solutions as a Customer Support Executive in 2012. I worked for E-commerce Giant ‘TheFind’, which was later on acquired by Facebook. After completing my part-time MBA, I joined an IT company, Sparknova Pvt. Ltd. as a marketing executive.
My love for traveling and exploration fuelled my interest. I realized that building relationship is one of the most valuable assets in one’s life. I could communicate and convince the clients, which helped gather leads and successfully implement the ERP product I marketed. I handled the Middle East, which helped me build solid contacts and domain knowledge in FMCG, Retail, E-Commerce, etc. As part of one of the company’s idea-sharing programs, I shared an idea: a mobile application for a locally known Snake Catcher to help people connect to him quickly and ensure easy navigation. That was the first initiative on my doing things I was passionate about. The application was a success that pushed the company into the limelight and helped them gather more business. The world widened for me. Without realizing it, I was narrowing down my areas of interest.
In 2015, I started out on my own, Richinnovations, providing solutions and services for business visibility and reach. Fuelled by the urge for developing my product, the significant constraint I faced was development & operational cost. So while working on my two brainchildren, I planned to generate revenue through technology and branding services. Richinnovations focused on Process Automation solutions and Branding services. Six years of successful journey gained industry-recognized clients from the UK, USA, UAE, Qatar & India. I was researching to develop my product for B2B & B2C while generating revenue through Richinnovations. I branded both sectors under Richinnovations, nexERP is the brand for process automation, and Seomonk is the branding initiative.
‘She’ is the firefly who entered inside the broken bulb, and enlightened my life. Having a partner is okay but having a partner, friend, well-wisher, critic, lover, and wife in one person is absolute luck. I was having a not-so-good past [truly] which drained my confidence by all means for having a fruitful life ahead. The mistakes and wrong choices will cost a lot, eventually. No matter how much you tried for good, you will always be evil in someone else’s story. Like I said earlier, she is one only reason for the pace I am having now, as I am lucky enough.
After four years of research, we are about to launch our next product, Matrimore, which will bring together all wedding and event needs in a single platform. It will host vendor services for all specific event requirements like theme conceptualization, venue, bride and groom trousseau, logistics, and everything needed to manage the entire event. Customers can interact with vendors, and the NRI community will benefit from exploring the wedding market trends and ensuring quality services rather than blindly choosing online. On the other hand, vendors, including freelancers to big players, can exhibit their profiles and get in touch with a global audience. I was able to use the pandemic situation to onboard vendors; we have handpicked quality providers. We now have more than a thousand vendors from Kerala, where we are doing a pilot run.
I set out on my first venture with one supporting member. Within two years, our team has grown to a count of twenty-two members [തള്ളിയതല്ല]. I am grateful that I have the initial core team with me to this day, who have remained my support in the ups and downs. My mantra in guiding our team is a quote by Lao Tzu, ” A leader is best when people barely know he exists when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.” The success of my team is always the team effort.
Covid was a lesson, I should be thankful for having such a period even if it took a lot of things including my late father-in-law who trusted on me on the worst days of my life. The lessons I have learned were so simple, never trust anybody blindly, if you don’t know anything learn it, ignorance will put you in trouble, say things in time, time is money, money is everything. The post-covid version is the upgraded version of Richin in all forms.
I stop at nothing other than my dreams, which made me quite a comfortable Government job years ago and take the plunge to go after my dreams. The path was challenging, and the experiences I gained interacting with people and situations made me pick my lessons from the entrepreneurial journey. I learned that a mixed strategy of slow and steady combined with aggressiveness and opportunity taking is needed for good results and to reduce the chances of a misstep.
Dreamt, pursuing. – Richin R Chandran
