Entrepreneurs told to take change & risk as success opportunities

Our Correspondent
KOHIMA, APRIL 16

A leader of a relocation company has told entrepreneurs to emphasize on change, and think out of the box, as an opportunity to securing success. Reiterating the need for change as global citizens to succeed, Ranjini Manian, founder and CEO of Global Adjustments told a gathering of local entrepreneurs that ‘if one wants to go cross boundary link, learn and leverage opportunities then one will have to do something that are little uncomfortable and different.’
Global Adjustments Services is an expatriate services company that provides support for relocation and cross-cultural services, helping families from all over the world move from and to India.
Speaking as the resource person at an interactive session with local entrepreneurs at the Hotel Vivor Saturday in Kohima town, Manian, an expert at sharing cross cultural coaching both with Indian and foreign business professionals asserted that when one makes changes ‘they are welcomed anywhere’ and then ‘we are super success’. The event was organised jointly by Indian Trails and Global Adjustments with prospects for a partnership between Nagaland and Tamil Nadu.
Interacting with the local entrepreneurs, Manian said that inter-culture mindsets were something that people needed to understand ‘to work with us.’ Stating that there was ‘no one good way’ or one bad way either, ‘it exists and it is what it is’. However, she maintained that it was a question of helping the other person see, and manipulate and coordinate that something becomes a success.
She urged the gathering to do away with the ‘bondage of living within our comfort zones’ and doing things that they were used to do; they must try to do something that are even uncomfortable and different if they wished to link to enhance growth; learn to focus on strength not on weaknesses; leverage skills to access opportunities.
While remarking that the discovery of change was quiet empowering, Manian maintained that although change would not be easy in the beginning, one would slowly get used to it. It is possible if the end goal is success, she said.
Demonstrating her point through personal experiences, the Global Adjustments official said that they, as entrepreneurs, should take risks. ‘An opportunity presents itself only once; one just have to jump in with both feet into the opportunity and take the plunge,’ she said.
Also, noting the aspiration of people to be perfect in all things, she remarked that ‘not being perfect all around is ok.’ Nonetheless, she stressed on the need to focus more on leveraging one’s natural and learning skills by leveraging the power of one’s own skill, building up confidence and networking in the world. They need to ask for what one actually wants so that it would be delivered she said.
While stating that it was ‘OK’ to make money ‘since we are legitimately allowed to make money,’ Ranjini Manian advised the entrepreneurs to share wealth by ‘doing good’ for others. ‘Do good by doing well,’ she added.
‘Is there any entrepreneurial avenue or focus area that you see where there isn’t enough opportunity within Nagaland?’ asked Ranjini Manian. The poser opened discussions among the entrepreneurs. Local entrepreneurs spoke about the avenues that were available in the state of Nagaland. They also talked about the problems they face in the areas of transportation, and marketing.
Over the issue of partnership between Nagaland and Tamil Nadu, Manian asked the participants to consider the areas of strength that can be linked,’ to learn from each other, and to find out the need that can be fulfilled and what the opportunities that they can leverage by partnership were.’
Giving tips about toward attaining success, Ranjini maintained that one just has to think out of the box ‘so that all can come up with solutions and grow for all of us.’
‘We are just limiting ourselves by our own minds. Nothing else is limiting us,’ the Global Adjustments CEO stated.
in order to be successful in whatever one does, she added, one ‘needs to smile and accept change, have some humour– to just be funny about oneself and not the others. Most important of them all, she said, is have respect all the time for others way of life.
It may be noted that with 21 years working in the relocation industry in six cities in India, Ranjini has worked with thousands of clients from over 78 nationalities. Manian’s deep knowledge of the Indian ethos, her excellent orientation and communication skills and understanding of western etiquette proved to be the perfect combination to help expatriates understand the nuances of Indian culture for personal as well as business needs.
What began as a two-people workforce has now grown to a 65-strong company, with offices in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, and an exhaustive client base that includes companies including Nokia, IBM, Ericsson, Motorola, Saint Gobain, Dow Chemicals, Caterpillar, Daimler, BMW, Fidelity, GE Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Cisco to name a few.