Orion Consulting- one stop solution for all your marketing, IT and financial needs

We all are living in a highly competitive world and therefore it has become very important for every business to establish its roots in the digital platform as well. What will be your reaction if we tell you that you can get done all your non-core business activities easily by hiring an outsourced team who will do all such work for you including services of digital marketing, IT solutions- developing communication and business tools and financial and funding management?

Well, Orion consulting is one such business set-up which does all these types of work for different established as well as start-up businesses. The employees working in this company strongly believe that any given business idea is strongly based on marketing, technology and finance. Orion Consulting is one such company which extends you its expert service in these domains with the help of its highly experienced and professional team. This unique venture was started by Manajit Ghoshal who is the founder and MD of the company.

Here we have the founder and MD of Orion Consulting, Manajit Ghoshal…..popularly known as MG. MG is an MBA, Chartered Accountant, Cost Accountant, Company Secretary, Bachelor of Commerce and a member of CISI (London). Manajit Ghoshal started his career as a trainee in Hindustan Lever and then branched out to various functions in strategy and corporate finance. He has been associated with companies like KPMG, Cadburys, Johnson, Searle India, CMS Computers and Midday.

He has many firsts to his credit. He was amongst the earliest people to imbibe the digital and dotcom mantra and was in the core team to establish one of the first B2B eCommerce sites in India. He was the first to introduce QR codes in the print media in India. He has front-ended numerous financial deals and has run the media business for Midday. He was the architect of one of the first FDI in the FM radio space when he closed the deal with BBC. He also orchestrated the merger of Midday with the Jagran group. After working in diverse industries on the finance and business side for more than two decades, MG remains an innovator at heart.

Let us know about his venture directly through his words.

Inventiva: What is the Name of Your Venture? Is there any specific reason for this name?
Orion Consulting is the name of my venture. Orion is a resplendent constellation visible across the globe. Since each of our colleagues is a star and since we want to be visible across the globe we named our organization Orion Consulting. Also, we wanted to be known for the knowledge and expertise we bring on the table. Hence we didn’t want to call ourselves an agency, therefore we settled with consulting.

Inventiva: Who is your target Audience/clients?
All businesses who want to promote their products or services on digital media are our potential clients.

Inventiva: Where your venture is based (city, state, country) & what are your geographical target areas?
Orion Consulting is based out of Vashi, Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra, India. We operate media campaigns on a pan India basis. We have also run campaigns in UAE and South East Asia.

Inventiva: What problems does your venture resolve? What are your products or services?
We deal in all the digital platforms like SMS, Email, Whatsapp, Voice calls, and all Social Media. We also have a proprietary product called Ad fence. Ad fence is a location based mobile advertising platform. Ad fence helps clients finely target specific geography example- airports and deliver their ads on mobile apps. This helps to increase the focus, reduce wastages and improve ROI for advertisers.

Inventiva: Share the idea or story behind the venture. How did it come to existence? What motivated you to start your own venture?
I was the MD & CEO of Midday group of Newspapers in Mumbai. Me and my team were keenly studying the developments in the digital space and were excited with the possibilities. We decided to come together and start our own venture. The possibilities of delivering optimum media solutions, at reasonable cost and with unparalleled transparency to clients were very appealing to us and we decided to go for it.

Inventiva: Who are your biggest competitors and how do you differentiate yourself from them?
On one level, all media consultants are our competition. The media industry is going through a metamorphosis and digital is gaining ground. But traditional media like TV and print still account for large share of the advertising pie. We realized very early on that the bigger agencies have been used to earn their cut by spending the least amount of effort and hence they encourage their clients to spend the maximum amount of their budget on traditional media because it involves so little effort on their end to monitor or optimize the campaigns. We recently met a head honcho of a big firm and he acknowledged that he gets 90% of client budgets on traditional media since it is conducive to his effort-reward ratio. Digital campaigns are hard work since it requires continuous monitoring and optimization on a real time basis. So it is a constant battle to educate clients that their money is better spent on digital platforms.

Our USP is our database which we constantly update and analyze. Unlike an IRS survey in Print or TAM or RAM in TV and Radio, Digital monitoring is Real Time. So we constantly slice and dice our data, update it constantly, use AI tools to monitor all our campaigns and use the learning in our next campaigns to further optimize our efforts.

Inventiva: How did you identify your co-founder? Tell us something about your co-founder/s.
All stars of Orion are treated as Cofounders. However, I need to mention two special individuals Mr. Aashit Hathi is our Chief Operating Officer and Mr. Vinay Khanderao is our Vice President – Business Development. They have been a pillar of strength and have worked effortlessly for the success of Orion Consulting. They were both a part of the Midday team and it has been an absolute pleasure and privilege to be associated with them.

Inventiva: How did you hire your first team members? What skills do you want in your employees/team?
The first team members in most start ups come through references. We too followed the same path. Orion Consulting follows a PACK system to evaluate all our stars. This is a system developed in-house and works brilliantly for us. PACK stands for Presentability, Attitude, Communication skills, and Knowledge, not necessarily in that order. Different roles have got different weight-age for each component of PACK. For example- in a technical role, knowledge and attitude will get more weight-age than the other two components of PACK.

Inventiva: What expansion plans are you looking for the next 2 years, next 5 years?
We have very aggressive expansion plans at a PAN India level. We also follow the Reseller model for foreign territories. We already have Resellers in the Middle East territories. Our focus will be on Technology, Data Analytics and constantly improving our knowledge of different industries that we serve. A lot of our top management time also goes in learning about the cutting edge developments that happen in the digital space around the world. We plan to be a preferred destination for the talent pool that India provides and we take pride in the organization culture that we have created. We work hard, party harder but never lose focus.

Inventiva: Where do you want to see yourself in next 10 years?
Over the next decade, we want to create products and platforms from India that will be used globally by all clients. It is just a matter of time that the next Facebook or Google comes out from India and hopefully we will have some role to play when that happens.

Inventiva: What are your immediate goals over the next 1, 3, 6 and 12 months?
Digital business like all businesses goes through cyclical changes. It’s more dynamic than any other business. Hence, our short term goals are to differentiate us better on the services we offer currently and expand our client base at a Pan India level.

Inventiva: Have you raised any funding? Or have any plans for the funding?
Right now, we are self funded. We had offers from the Big Agencies to buy us out or to fund us. So far, we have refused. However, never say never in business and we will keep our options open.

Inventiva: What were the problems you faced during the starting days and how did you resolve them?
Getting the right talent and managing cash flows were the two big issues. People are hesitant to join a new company and clients are also wary of giving business to a new entity. However, luckily we had our media background and our corporate credibility to fall back on and we sailed through.

Inventiva: What was the most challenging part of your journey till now? How did you overcome those challenges?
Trying to get Government business and trying to get a foot in door with Banks have been our big challenges. In both cases there are too many entry point hurdles for an SME like Orion Consulting. We are trying our best to crack a big one in the coming year.

Inventiva: What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
I love to party with my friends. I am a voracious reader and I consume all genres. I used to love to travel but having covered most types of scenery that love is a bit on the wane.

Inventiva: Whom do you consider your idol or biggest motivator?
Oh! The list is endless. I love to learn every day from everyone. Each success story teaches us something. It is up to us to process it and use it.

Inventiva: What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
Sometimes, it’s just the opportunity one gets. Sometimes, it is the situation one finds himself in. But yes, it needs much more grit and determination to start something of your own and more importantly to make it a success.

Inventiva: If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?

I would start off on my own much earlier than I currently did.
How has being an entrepreneur affected your family & Social life?

It puts a lot of stress on you but it also is liberating. It gives you much more flexibility at the same time carrying the responsibility of your colleagues on your shoulders reminds you at all times that failure is not an option.

Inventiva: Anything, you would like to say to our readers or upcoming entrepreneurs?
All I have to say to them that half the success is achieved the moment you make up your mind to follow your dreams. Rest I want to recommend everyone that they should be patient and consistent in their efforts throughout.

Inventiva: Tell us something about your education & family background.
I come from a middle class family back ground. My Dad was an accountant and my Mom a housewife. But they had a keen sense of responsibility to educate me. I graduated in Commerce from Bombay University. I am also a Chartered Accountant, Cost Accountant, Company Secretary, MBA- Marketing and a member of CISI (London).

Inventiva: What is your USP which makes it unique & different from other start-ups in similar domains?
We aim to alleviate our client’s pain points through each of our products and services. We are also an extremely process driven organization but we are ever ready to innovate and change. We pride ourselves in creating an inclusive and learning culture for our colleagues whom we refer to as Stars since they belong to Orion Constellation.

Inventiva: What do you think is the biggest threat to the success of small businesses & Start-ups today?
The legal framework in the country when it comes to recover the rightfully due amount is a big issue. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has been helpful but a lot more still needs to be done. GST is also loaded against MSEs since we need to deposit GST by 20th of every month but we don’t get paid by clients for months.

Inventiva: Do you consider yourself successful and by what means do you measure success?
Success is never complete. It’s always Work-In-Progress. I measure my success by how many lives I influence.

Inventiva: Please share complete name, address, phone number, email id & website of Your Business & Contact Person
Orion Website : www.orionconsulting.co
Address: Orion Consulting
301, Arenja Corner, Sector 17, Vashi, Navi Mumbai
Maharashtra, 400703.
Ph no. 9833506543