It is never too late to start – Bipasha Roy

1) Pls tell us about career before starting your entrepreneurial journey?

For about two-and-a-half decades, I was really fortunate to garner very useful experience in the areas of Business Development, Marketing, Capability Development, Event Management, Content Creation & Customer Service in leading organizations across various industries like Consumer Durables, Realty, Media & Education.

My notable life’s learnings came from – having conversations with difficult customers while selling high-value products of realtors; launching education supplement in an already cluttered market for a very respected national newspaper; curating content and business strategies for leading organisations; developing franchise models for educational services; developing learning modules & running capability development programs for different audiences like corporates, students, educators & parents; running customer connect events & innovative marketing solutions for top Indian & multinational brands, & so on.

2) When was the moment you decided to enter / start business?

Many journeys in life are planned, while some others come up suddenly. Both have their own aura of mystic charm.

For me, it was that planned journey of previous 25 years that eventually lost its way into a sudden burst of entrepreneurial spirit that began to grow roots in my mind. I had organized and conducted over 400 learning programs & workshops across India, UAE & Singapore by then as a part of my last job role. I started realising my passion lies there and I have to answer to that call. 

I formally quit my corporate career in December 2015 and co-founded Mobius Space Consulting Pvt. Ltd. in February 2016. 

3) Did your family / friends support your decision?

The support and constant encouragement from my family was always there, all along my journey. After especially seeing my father run his export trading business, I was all the more aware of the potential ups and downs that a new business is likely to face. I was game for it. My husband has been my pillar of strength and a formidable critique. He has stood by all my decisions till date and supports me to achieve my goals.

4) How was the journey in the initial year?

It necessitated that I quickly immerse and engage with varied industries and sectors, so as to understand & develop effective solutions for different participant groups, that are relevant both to business and society. I realized that content design and flow needs to be fun-filled, engaging, experiential and inculcate a sense of learning-by-doing. Design Thinking helped me immensely in understanding my stakeholders much better and delivering value for them accordingly.

I started by running a series of public workshops on Design Thinking that turned out to be a big hit & I learnt a lot from them. I simultaneously started looking for other unique & engaging pedagogies that are highly outcome oriented. I got trained as a Certified Facilitator in LEGO® Serious Play® Methods and Materials from Finland. I constantly thrive to upgrade my knowledge and skill-sets to remain ahead of the curve. I completed a Certified UX Designer course from IDF, Denmark and also became a Practitioner of NLP.

My client base grew slowly and steadily through word of mouth, from people who attended our initial workshops and the gains that accrued to them. Corporates started contacting us through the global community of LEGO® Serious Play® facilitators listing as well. 

5) Tell us which role you like now? Job or Business?

The former role clearly paved my way, enriched my experience & understanding of people and contexts. It definitely has its own significance in shaping who I am today.

However, it is that sudden journey that chugged along its huge tunnels of uncertainty, bringing with it a cascading sense of fear & adventure, of hope & despair, of pleasure & pain that made it worth as it unfolded.

The freedom to deal with and learn from variety of problems faced by different levels of decision-makers – from customers & consumers – to the flexibility I have towards choosing my work and my time-zones – all these seemed to augur very well for my memorable entrepreneurial journey. I am enjoying every bit of this.

6) Tell us more about your business you are in?

My diverse experience and exposure to people from different culture and geographies have helped me to understand that, there is a huge market for augmenting skills-sets and mind-sets of people who wish to nurture innovation and change. It was this strong & latent belief in human-centred development, that drove me to conceptualize and co-found Mobius. 

At Mobius  we  –

• • design & deliver capability development programs
  • provide consulting services to institutions & businesses to innovate products/services/systems/processes
  • work with educational institutions and corporates to facilitate innovate, change and achieve significant breakthroughs using Design Thinking and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®

Design Thinking (DT) is an immersive, problem solving process, using empathy and creativity, leading to a high sense of engagement. DT helps to re-imagine the existing and come up with beneficial solutions/strategies. Large and small businesses as well as social cum political organizations have been successfully addressing wicked problems using their DT methodology.

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®(LSP)   is a very effective, outcome-driven strategic communication tool for business. It helps teams to successfully create identities, innovate strategies & achieve shared vision. HBS, MIT, UNESCO and several leading multinationals are using LSP as their chosen facilitation tool.

We have facilitated more than 5000 participants since our inception in early 2016.

Our rapidly growing client base spans a wide range of industries and include large Multi Nationals, Private Sector, PSU, Social Sector and Educational Institutions. Our programs are highly outcome driven, adaptable & customizable to industry/business needs. 

Some of our clients are BSH Hausgerate, Swiss Re, GSK India, SKF India, Lanxess India, Bank of America, Castrol, Pidilite, RINL etc. to name a few.

I am also a visiting faculty for DT & Innovation courses at prominent business schools like IIM Kozhikode, SPJIMR Mumbai, and engineering colleges like SPIT Mumbai, etc.

10) Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

Five to ten years from now I see Mobius as an established, go-to brand, for quality training of DT in India and the Middle-east, for executives and decision makers in corporations, SME sector and for social enterprises. As one of the pioneers of I also aspire Mobius to be the number one LSP consulting destination in India, for all such organizations that face live business challenges in a VUCA environment. 

11) Your message to women who want to start something of their own?

My 3 mantras for women who want to start something would be :

1. Let no one else but you decide what you are capable of
2. It is never too late to start 
3. Never stop learning & upgrading