MVP - THE MASTERS' VOICE PODCAST - MEDIABRIEF

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This special episode of MVP The Master's Voice celebrates India's Independence Day and features Ravi Kumar, Founder and CEO of udChalo in conversation with Pavan R Chawla, Founder-Editor of MediaBrief.com .
As our Nation celebrates Independence with Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, we are honoured and delighted to bring you a very special episode to record which, we were honoured to welcome the young, visionary, inspirational leader – Ravi Kumar, Fonder & CEO of udChalo -- a company that is “dedicated to serve our Soldiers, the Heroes whose courage, gallantry, and commitment to protect our Nation's honour is incomparable.”

In fact, udChalo is purpose-driven by the mission to provide the best services for the Services – the entire armed fraternity, its officers, soldiers, their families, dependents and survivors.

Now in its 10th year, udChalo has done remarkable work for the Services, and I recorded this episode only on Friday the 12th of August 2022 with Ravi who travelled to Mumbai for the recording.

We had promised ourselves we would edit, package and master the episode as our own small but heartfelt tribute to that most amazing community of Indians, the best of the best – our Armed Forces and their entire fraternity. This episode is MediaBrief.com’s salute to the Services, and also an expression of gratitude to udChalo, which has been serving India’s Armed fraternity with pride and gratitude.

Thank you, Ravi Kumar, and the entire team at udChalo. More strength to you.

udChalo, founded and led by Ravi Kumar, an engineering graduate from Pune with an LLB degree and an alumnus of the 1-year Stanford Seed program, is powered by its primary rocket-fuel of purpose-driven service to the Armed Services of India.

And Ravi, my guest on this very special episode, has always been a strong, focused and of course very capable leader who has seen the company achieve a solid 495% CAGR from FY 2014-15 to FY2020-21.

udChalo has been recognized by the ‘Fastest Growing MSME’ award twice, and when Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented Ravi Kumar with the award in January 2022 for udChalo’s performance over the previous year, the citation recognized the company’s ‘innovation and service to society’.

And Ravi himself has won several prestigious awards including 40 Most Influential Asians Under 40, 2019; 50 Best Leaders Of 2020; Young Entreprenuer of Year 2020; National Startup Award 2021; and First Generation Entrepreneur 2021 By MCCIA, among others.

Trade can be learnt; trait cannot be taught, says Ravi. And, of course, the passion and commitment with which he work through udChalo for the Services, bespeaks the ra

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We have two podcast series: MVP - The Master's Voice Podcast, and MediaCast. Both are published by MediaBrief.com.
So, if you want to pitch someone to be considered for our podcasts, here's how you can do it:

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• Then, write to us at pavan [at] mediabrief dot com and alliances [at] mediabrief dot com, and also share links to your profiles that are following us.

Connecting socially is something we believe in and advocate. So go ahead. Reach out. We're happy, social souls.

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This, the 57th episode of the award-winning MVP – The Master’s Voice Podcast, features industry veteran Paritosh Joshi- Principal at Provocateur Advisory, in conversation with Pavan R Chawla, Founder-Editor of MediaBrief.com. and we disuss TRAI's 'regulation of the broadcast sector in general and its most recent consultaion paper on the travesty called NTO 2.0 in particular.

The TRAI report card, says Paritosh, has been a litany of failure right from the first mandate it received, till today. Across its 25 years so far, Paritosh says what TRAI has -- unlike the OfComs and other bodies of the world -- is authority without responsibility.

We discuss TRAI’s ‘regulation’ of the broadcast sector in general, and its most recent consultation paper seeking inputs and guidance on the travesty called NTO 2.0. The straight-talking, richly experienced ‘Provocateur’ Paritosh, who has been helping empower industry bodies like ASCI and the Media Research Users Council MRUC, and has been President and Head of Sales and Distribution at India’s top network, the Star Network, brings to our discussion knowledge and insights from a rich and proven professional career.

We discuss TRAI’s performance as a broadcast regulator, and Paritosh responds to some of the questions in the consultation paper. And shares several thoughts about TRAI’s ‘capability’ and multiple failures across 25 years of intrusive ineptitude as a regulator of the broadcast sector.

TRAI, Paritosh says, has failed the broadcast sector because it is a regulator that was designed for working on a commodity style of product, telecom, and not a highly differentiated style of product which is what Broadcasting is all about. And which is utterly alien to TRAI’s vocabulary. TRAI tried to force-fit the telecom regulatory style to the broadcast sector, and they failed it.

In fact, even the very first job TRAI was tasked with by a judicial body – that of implementing CAS in India, TRAI failed in, in spectacular fashion: CAS never happened. It is instructive, Paritosh says, that after more than two decades of being the ac

Want to pitch someone to be featured?
We have two podcast series: MVP - The Master's Voice Podcast, and MediaCast. Both are published by MediaBrief.com.
So, if you want to pitch someone to be considered for our podcasts, here's how you can do it:

• First, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram.
• Then, write to us at pavan [at] mediabrief dot com and alliances [at] mediabrief dot com, and also share links to your profiles that are following us.

Connecting socially is something we believe in and advocate. So go ahead. Reach out. We're happy, social souls.

Send us a text

The 56th episode of MVP – The Master’s Voice Podcast series, features Ronnie Screwvala - Chairperson & Co-Founder of upGrad, and the wonderful first-generation Indian entrepreneur, philanthropist, opinion leader and author and a truly remarkable and inspiring, visionary enterprise leader who exemplifies the MVP acronym of Most Valuable Player in our podcast series title.

Along with upGrad, which zeroes in on the massive Online Education market and the fact that Learning for every working professional is now a lifelong commitment, Ronnie also co-founded The Swades Foundation (along with his wife Zarina), which is committed to empowering one million lives in rural India every 5-7 years through a 360 degree model spanning Water, Sanitation, Health, Education and Livelihood, to help lift them out of poverty permanently.

These initiatives stemmed from Ronnie’s desire to deepen his commitment to making India a better place through a focus on two of the largest sunrise sectors - Online Education & the not-for-profit rural / social space.

In this episode, which will benefit startups and investors alike, Ronnie shares rich insights on a gamut of areas, from a beautiful mid point between investor and startup owner, but that’s just the point he speaks from. Ronnie’s words, as anyone who knows him, are pure, direct, plain-speak, sans any mincing.

From the perspective of someone who has built and is scaling a global enterprise like the remarkable UpGrad, Ronnie speaks about the macro picture in the EdTech space, and shares his views on whether he believes money talks during the phase of building a business when investors and capital seem to be the most important thing.

On the fact that India has crossed 100 unicorns, Ronnie speaks of the need to be balanced between the champagne of celebration and the deep thought of introspection. He believes it is incorrect to assume that for K12, which has been the darling of everyone from investors to media to consumers, the honeymoon is over because the K12 model built by companies so far is under stress -- purely because there is a massive opportunity for K12 in India.

Ronnie shares how, despite having raised the least amount of cash, UpGrad has scaled very well with only a little capital. He shares his vision and approach, and his view on if, w

Want to pitch someone to be featured?
We have two podcast series: MVP - The Master's Voice Podcast, and MediaCast. Both are published by MediaBrief.com.
So, if you want to pitch someone to be considered for our podcasts, here's how you can do it:

• First, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram.
• Then, write to us at pavan [at] mediabrief dot com and alliances [at] mediabrief dot com, and also share links to your profiles that are following us.

Connecting socially is something we believe in and advocate. So go ahead. Reach out. We're happy, social souls.

Send us a text

My wonderful guest in this episode of MVP, the Master’s Voice Podcast – our series based on conversations with MVPs (Most Valued Players / Professionals) across important sectors of the Industry, is the peerless Kaushik Roy, AKA Roy Phoenix, one of the most admired leaders whose brilliant campaigns have become part of creative and strategic folklore in advertising and brand building.

The man who’s been a remarkable creative leader, is an equally gifted writer. Just read, and revel in, the most satisfying confluence of thought, expression and inspiration that shine in his brilliant debut novel, Alphabetica. A dear friend and brilliant broadcasting industry leader had virtually rapped me on the head to tell me I needed to read Kaushik's amazing book, and that had got me scurrying to the affable and generous Kaushik, who gave me enough time and more to record a long and leisurely episode in a post-prandial Saturday afternoon slot. Thank you Kaushik.

So, more on Alphabetica in a bit. It is, of course, the kind of engrossing writing one would have expected from Kaushik, whose prodigious creative talent was mentored from the early days by his stalwart father, and who grew and honed it across decades in an illustrious career.

When one considers the diversity and brilliance of some of his campaigns that have become beacons in Indian advertising, once can see how beautifully a different calibration between head and heart would have played in the creation of every different campaign – each a milestone in legendary Indian advertising.

Let’s see. Great campaigns like Tata Steel “We Also Make Steel”, Max Touch (Vodafone), “Citizen of the World“, Reliance Infocomm “Karlo Duniya Mutthi Mein”, Philips “Let’s Make Things Better”, Reliance Industries Limited’s “Mumbai Indians”, “Jio” and “Indian Super League”, and HMV’s “Nazia Hassan – Disco Deewane”, to name a few.

Kaushik comes from a family of artists and filmmakers and, as a youngster, displayed great talent as a painter and a photographer. While doing his graduation at the Saint Xavier's College, Kolkata, his flair for art got him breaks as a freelance artist and designer, and finally, a visualizer’s job with JWT, Kolkata.

After his initial stint in the Creative Department at JWT, Kaushik moved over to the management side of the business. He has held important positions as Executive Director & Chief Creative Officer – DDB Mudra, Head Brand Strategy, South Asia – Philips, Head Branding and Marcom – Reliance Infocomm, and President, Brand Strategy and Marketing Communication – Reliance Industries Limited.

Kaushik has also held important industry positions such as the President of the A

Want to pitch someone to be featured?
We have two podcast series: MVP - The Master's Voice Podcast, and MediaCast. Both are published by MediaBrief.com.
So, if you want to pitch someone to be considered for our podcasts, here's how you can do it:

• First, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram.
• Then, write to us at pavan [at] mediabrief dot com and alliances [at] mediabrief dot com, and also share links to your profiles that are following us.

Connecting socially is something we believe in and advocate. So go ahead. Reach out. We're happy, social souls.

Send us a text

This, the 44th episode of MVP- The Master’s Voice Podcast – our series based on conversations with MVPs (Most Valued Players / Professionals) across important sectors of the Industry – features K E Ranganathan, Managing Director - Roca Bathroom Products Pvt Ltd, the 100% subsidiary of the Spain-based Roca Group which is a world leader in the definition of the bathroom space. Ranganathan speaks with Pavan R Chawla, Founder-Editor of MediaBrief.com.
Ranga – as he is fondly called – heads the global Roca brand’s India operations and tells me how he has helped the India team lead in revenue growth across the massive 175-plus global markets Roca footprint.

Ranga holds in paramount importance the legendary Akira Mori’s 5H values-attitudes-focus string of Humility, Humanity, Humour, Hope, and Health. And also believes that that there are no dull markets. Only dull managers.

Ranga is a graduate in commerce from Madras University, an Associate of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and an Associate member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI). He is also a Fulbright Scholar, and comes with more than 33 years of experience in finance, accounting, business planning, strategy, marketing & sales.

Ranga has held senior positions in various companies in Murugappa Group and TVS Group.

Not new to Roca Bathroom Products Pvt. Ltd, Ranganathan joined Murugappa Group in 1994 where he was Head of Finance for Parryware division and later took charge of the Sales & Distribution division. During his stint with Parryware, Ranga brought a whole new perspective by refurbishing the key processes and focusing on result orientation, leading to sales growth at a CAGR of 25%.

In 2005, Ranganathan headed Parryware business as the CEO and played a key role in transforming the business into a Joint Venture company with Roca Spain.

Ranga works closely on creating new strategies and opportunities to drive growth and further consolidate the company’s leadership position, and does that surrounded by toilets and bathroom fittings most of his working day.

In this episode, he speaks about the journey and growth of Roca and Parryware in India, how they tackled the pandemic, the USPs of the brands and the most popular products, his marketing beliefs and strategies and some interesting campaigns, plus his outlook for the subsectors he operates in, and also offers an extended piece of advice for youngsters that I believe everyone professional will find very useful. And more.

So join me in my chat with K E Ranganathan, MD – Roca Bathroom Products Pvt Ltd for an insights-filled conversation. With

Want to pitch someone to be featured?
We have two podcast series: MVP - The Master's Voice Podcast, and MediaCast. Both are published by MediaBrief.com.
So, if you want to pitch someone to be considered for our podcasts, here's how you can do it:

• First, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram.
• Then, write to us at pavan [at] mediabrief dot com and alliances [at] mediabrief dot com, and also share links to your profiles that are following us.

Connecting socially is something we believe in and advocate. So go ahead. Reach out. We're happy, social souls.