On YOUR own
Few businesses have as elastic a definition as event management. Almost anything is an event weddings, corporate picnics, roadshows, exhibitions, fashion shows and they have all got to be managed. The interesting thing, however, is that a lot of people are making a lot of money doing the managing. Most are still in their twenties, but you wouldnt believe it when you look at their billings or listen to them talking about their business.
Event management involves integration of eventing with marketing, communication and media handling so that companies get a complete package at one go, says Malini Srinagesh, who heads Integrated Marketing and Communication Inc.
Srinagesh set up her company at 21, with a loan of Rs one lakh from her father. She had already worked with New York-based event management firm Kamikaze when in college. Her first client was Telstra, to handle their corporate dinners and marketing communication. Thats a rather peculiar combination, but Srinagesh stresses the flexibility start-up ventures like hers can offer. In this area, you dont need a pile of academic qualifications. Its your ability to sustain the interest of the client through creativity and consistent service that makes the difference, she says.
Atul Nath, 25, and Samarjit Singh, 26 would second that. In three years, their company, Candid Promotions and Action Marketing, has roped in Pepsi, Nokia, Lee Cooper, and F.U.s as clients. Nath feels they began at an opportune time: Then, you only needed about Rs 2 lakh to start up, but today the amount has risen tenfold. You have to spend more on creating a brand image.
Nath has it that corporates no longer settle for small ventures run out of peoples homes they look for more professionalism, since their own event budgets are rising. But one way to minimise costs and expand your reach as a start-up event management company is to tie up with associates in other cities. In some cases this may be an agreement to use each others offices for outstation projects; in other cases, you could contract work to each other, and split the earnings. IMCI has a tie-up with Aroha in Mumbai, and is identifying associates in Bangalore and Chandigarh. Candid has developed an associate network in Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Bangalore.
Srinagesh advises that one start with assignments where less work has to be sub-contracted out. Corporate dinners or employee picnics are lower on the difficulty scale road shows, exhibitions and conferences are harder. The latter require more external suppliers, equipment and coordination. One event organised by Candid was aimed not at customers but at dealers to increase brand visibility. It recently undertook an assignment for Nokia to promote its new handsets to cellular phone retailers. For about Rs 12 lakh, a month-long motor cavalcade was organised in 13 cities.
Says 33-year-old Shiv Shankar Moitra, who heads Event Engineers Pvt Ltd (EEL), The biggest advantage of eventing is that it enables you to make eye-ball-to-eye-ball contact with your target. The disadvantage is that if you are caught blinking, you dont get a second chance. The three-year-old EEL has clients such as Microsoft, Dominos Pizza and Hewlett Packard and a turnover of Rs 6.3 crore (See How I Made My First Million). In 1994-95, Candid had a turnover of Rs 25 lakh this year, they expect Rs 2 crore.
In the first year, Srinagesh won assignments from four multinationals and two big Indian companies; this year she hopes to undertake twice that number. She has ploughed all profits back into upgrading her office infrastructure and expanding her staff from two to four employees. She is also investing in a new travel management company, to handle arrangements for conference delegates.
Theres also private event management. This is as lucrative, and requires a low initial investment. Vikram Chanda and Vikram Bhalla, both 22, decided to focus on private events when they were setting up Vivify in college. They pooled in Rs 30,000 each and invested in basic sound and lighting equipment for parties. Today they make billings of over a crore. Chanda estimates that their growth rate has been about 20 per cent a year, though profit margins vary greatly between projects.
In Vivifys first year, the duo handled about 70 events and the margins were high enough to recover the investment and upgrade their equipment. The advantage of owning ones equipment is significant you save on sub-contracting costs, and you can ensure proper maintenance, reveals Chanda.
The most lucrative events are wedding parties people book half a year in advance and shell out 100 per cent cash advance. The cash handouts at Punjabi weddings are phenomenal, exclaims Chanda, People bless the couple by circling rupee notes around their heads and then give the notes to the waiters or us!
Chanda calls Vivify an event execution rather than an event management firm, because they concentrate on the logistics of an event rather than its conceptualisation. The value addition that event execution firms like Vivify can provide over simple equipment rental shops is: advice about the kind of audio-visual equipment available for different budgets, the layout needed for optimum acoustics, plus the music to suit the desired ambience.
The size of this industry is estimated to be Rs 50 crore, with a growth rate of about 15 per cent a year. While its difficult to make similar calculations for private events, the growth rate is likely to be similar. For aspiring entrepreneurs, this is certainly a business where age is no bar.
