CEO Under Scan: Praveena Anand from Malola Mind Mentors Pvt. Ltd.
“when you can excel why do we need to just do what we are doing??”
Interviewed by: Dheeraj, Facilitator, The CEO Insights
What is your business venture all about?
We pioneer an exciting concept – Business Psychology. I had the excellent opportunity to work for majors and during the process could interact with customers who were medium and large corporate. I always found one common thread that could move them upwards exponentially and I kept analyzing this, brain storming with like minded friends. Thus the core idea for Malola was born and as we gave shape to it, we realized we are getting into an exciting area called Business Psychology. We empower excellence across organizations through our offerings. We started the venture with accountability as the main focus, meaning accountability with a capital A.
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Paveena Anand |
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Company Name & Designation |
Malola Mind Mentors Private Limited, CEO & Chief Knowledge Sharer |
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Company Headquartered in |
Chennai |
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Industry |
Management Consulting |
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Education |
Bachelors in Commerce; Masters in Computer Application; Executive MBA from IIM Kolkata; Certified Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner; Certified Hypno Therapist |
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Former employer |
CSG Systems Ltd., Singapore |
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Former designation |
Consultant |
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Area of responsibility |
Client Engagement |
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Favorite book/movie |
Good to Great by Jim Collins; Kamal Hassan’s Michael Madana Kama Rajan |
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Hobbies |
Reading, Music, Philosophy |
Which all different ideas you had before starting with this venture?
We have a lot of ideas but still we have to start somewhere, training is my passion but we don’t restrict our self to training, we started with a mind mentor because I believe business develops according to the potential of the mind.
Research across the world including those from Harvard says that 85% of jobs and promotion is based on people’s attitude and only 15% on the technical expertise but most of the investment that people make is on this 15% and hardly on 85%, so we want to tap on this 85% market.
You are from IIM-Kolkata, so how does it help you in this venture now?
I think any management program depends on the peers and it’s more of networking and value addition we get from them who share their knowledge and grow along with them. So I believe for me it’s more from that perspective, meaning networking and staying in touch with the people of the same mindset.
What is the vision of your Company?
We have real big vision to make corporate history. We are inspired by Infosys (thanks to the fact that the core team came from technology industry) and we firmly believe we will achieve great heights.
Our vision is to empower excellence through our portfolio of offerings across our target group, viz.:
– Corporate Entities
– Academic Institutions &
– World of Individuals
We started in Singapore and then we came to India. In short term we are looking for more expansion across India as we see great potential in Indian market. For this, we are also looking for equity investments from Private Equity players. Tough times – like what we are experiencing now – offers lot of scope for deploying our path breaking solutions. We strongly believe that our offerings will empower excellence at all times.
Our solutions focus on empowerment and excellence – both from people and people processes. Our offerings are classified as:
– Offerings for the Corporate World
– Offerings for the Academic World &
– Offerings for the World of Individuals
For the Corporate, we offer business psychology solutions that include Strategic Initiatives and Behavioral Enhancement Programs. For the Academic world our solutions include programs to empower Lectures, teaching and non-teaching staff and the students and for the Public, it is “jwala” the power program on self belief. “JWALA” is an initiative to help you bring out your inner strength so that you can use it to achieve greater aims in life.
Who are your major competitors?
Our major competitors are NIIT, Hero Mind Mine, City Specific & regional players, one man /one woman shops. But again it’s about accountability where we take the lead and that’s our USP.
Do you have tie-ups with different corporate?
We have an in-principle tie up with a Search firm, head quartered in Singapore. They have offices in key cities in India. The spirit of the tie up is that our offerings complement their services.
We also have an in principle tie-up with a CPA firm based in UAE with offices in major countries in the Middle East. They have a good reach in their markets and they can open doors for us faster. Our partners will hold promote our services, hold relationships, while we focus on delivering our solutions.
How do you see the present economic downturn?
I would say its relevant to our business in a positive way because everybody would need our service at this time. In fact when the economy is down there is no place for the average or below average performers. We focus on excellence. So the excellence we impart to our clients would help us thrive even in this downturn.
What kind of expertise you require when you recruit?
Our employees have to be very creative. We ensure that our employees enjoy their work and have fun, as fun way learning is something that helps retain information for a longer time in the mind. We focus on LRI (Learn-Retain-Implement) model. We want our employees to identify with the spirit of the organization and grow together.
How do you promote your business?
Branding is very clear. We have been a regular participant in NASSCOM HR Summit for the last 3 years. Aligning with organizations like National Entrepreneur Network (NEN) and few search firms also help in promoting us. However it is more through current engagements and the word of mouth that helps our promotion. Going forward we are looking at tying up with a professional PR company to promote us and our value offerings.
Who is your role model?
My passion is speaking and handling workshops. So from a personal perspective, I would say Anthony Robbins is my role model, who is an authority on the psychology of leadership, negotiations, organizational turnaround, and peak performance. This is totally from a personal perspective not from a CEO perspective.
What is the message for B-School Students?
· Dare to be different
· Think big
· Right Vision
· Passion to achieve
· Face initial hiccups with courage
Any comment on Mumbai Episode?
It’s a huge tragedy. We salute our valiant commandos who saved lives and our heart goes for those who lost their lives at the CST and the hotels. Our deep felt sympathies and prayers of support for those who lost their loved ones.
We should look at the recent Mumbai attack along with the various incidents in the last 20 years. As a nation we need strong measures to protect homeland and the citizens. Its as much each one of our responsibility as much as the Government’s. We have the responsibility to help our law makers and law enforcers with right feedback and suggestions to make India rightfully a great place.
Jai Hind!