“Coelho did it for me,” avers the newly turned enterpriser.
Inspired by the power-packed words tucked in the pages of The Alchemist by the world-renowned Brazilian wordsmith Paulo Coelho and with unflinching support from her spouse, Pooja Kumar decided to quit the misery of 9 to 5 and joined the league of young turks with SMEJoinup— a venture that can possibly revolutionize the SME sector.
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| Pooja Kumar Director, SMEJoinup |
SMEJoinup is an integrated online platform for owners of small and midsized enterprises with turnover between zero and 250 crores, where they can find solutions to their business needs. It basically aims to create an ecosystem for SMEs and thereby help them in three core areas— procuring funds, creating and expanding market, and outsourcing needs.
The idea of creating something of value for this ignored segment of entrepreneurs occurred to Pooja during her stint with HSBC Bank. “While working with HSBC Bank and dealing with SMEs, I felt this desire to create something valuable for the community and explore my creativity and passion for the SME segment,” says the über jubilant entrepreneur.
Pooja, who is a chartered accountant by qualification, has a total work experience of nine years post CA, where, for about six years, she dealt with the SME sector closely while attending to various roles in the banking sector. It is during this time that she saw an inherent need to formalize a structure to enhance the growth of this segment that employs a substantial number of people in the country.
So together with her husband, Vikas Kumar, who brings with him an equally impressive experience in technology and strategic consulting, she started SMEJoinup with an investment capital of `1 lakh. Though a small amount, it was sufficient to get the portal going, hire some junior-level staff, subscribe to membership of a few chambers, etc.
As people started seeing value in their offering, an increasing number of entrepreneurs joined the race. Today, SMEJoinup has 170 SME owners on the platform along with a network of close to 1000 SMEs present offline.
Counting on the increased recognition that helped the venture break even in the very second month of its inception, and anticipating a consistent growth trajectory, Pooja is planning to expand her reach to Tier III cities. She is also targeting the international markets. Through a new portal—gointernational.in, which is currently at the launch stage, she aims to bring those SMEs to the fore who are keen on international exposure to expand their business.
However, convincing the predominantly orthodox SMEs to join the portal, a platform and its benefits they were oblivious to, wasn’t exactly a cakewalk. From her experience with the SMEs, she knew not only were the SMEs unaware of the advantages of the online space but they preferred their own traditional ways of working.
But with extensive counseling and practical exercises, she made them see the power of tools like social networking, online marketing, etc. and the value in attending meetings, conventions, and seminars instead of hiring a marketing professional for a fat package.
Another factor that helped SMEJoinup increase the count of its members is the cost-free membership to the owners of SMEs. SMEJoinup does not work on the traditional model of business and customers. “We generate revenue from the service companies we empanel for the visibility and successful referrals provided to them,” says Pooja.
Basically it operates on two models— one that involves retainer plus a certain percentage of the revenue for the services extended (mostly related to visibility) to the service company, and second, a share of the revenue earned from every successful referral provided by SMEJoinup. “The revenue sharing percentage ranges anywhere between 10 and 30 per cent depending on the service,” says Pooja. Additionally, it also charges the SMEs for any direct consultancy or services provided to them as per the project undertaken.
“In less than four months, SMEJoinup has attained a turnover of close to a lakh,” exults Pooja, who has no entrepreneurial gene in her blood as she comes from a family of lawyers. For someone who had never consciously imagined being an entrepreneur, things seem to be falling in place.
We wish her all the best.
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Expert Speaks |
| Rangarajan Sridhar JAFCO Asia |
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| Interesting Concept | |
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Member Acquisition will be challenging and will require significant offline customer acquisition efforts including many feet on the street. The SME market is far from homogeneous with significant differences depending on industry cluster, type and size of business. One size fits all approach to customer acquisition will not work. Revenue Model may need tweaking as service providers will be reluctant to give away 10-30 per cent of their revenue share. A pay per lead approach may be a better way to go. Trusted Network will be the key. The degree to which the company can create reliable, replicable and scalable processes to screen and guarantee quality of service providers will be critical to whether SME’s keep coming back for more, rather than revert to using the local/offline channels they are more comfortable with. Over time, this may even allow the company to charge members a finder’s fee. Competition exists, particularly in the gointernational.in business initiative. Its’ not clear how SMEJoinup will differentiate itself from more established B2B companies like IndiaMart and TradeIndia. |
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| Ratings by the Expert Innovation element: 2/5 Market attractiveness: 4/5 Execution complexity: 4/5 Ability to build a large company: 3/5 |
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