We invited Ashutosh Gujarathi, Founder of Gujarathi Empire Group, for an interview with Most Popular Stories. Let’s get to know about his entrepreneurial journey.
1.Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an entrepreneur.
My name is Ashutosh Gujarathi, and I am an Ex-Merchant Navy officer class IV engineer, who sailed on merchant ships and graduated in Marine engineering. My family has a business in transportation since 1990. Since 2017 I took charge of the same and gradually developed my venture ‘Gujarathi Empire Group’ and moved into Exports, Trade, Transportation, Logistics, and Ship brokering.
The journey as an entrepreneur is always challenging, but you can say that this a thrilling and learning phase, which is helpful for later years. As I don’t have shame for any work, and very disciplined to allot work and complete work and projects within the scheduled time, I still enjoy my journey today.
2. Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
As a merchant navy officer, my job was also thrilling. However, I belong to a Gujarati family and business happens to be in my blood. My mind was restless as I wanted to do something of my own. With entrepreneurship, at least by the end of the day, I am getting core satisfaction at the bottom of my heart that, yes we are progressing and doing something which lasts long for the next 80+ years and giving bread and butter for many families through my ongoing and future planned ventures.
3. What was the vision behind it?
The vision was initially simple when I entered into the merchant navy to become a shipowner but realized the organization which we are about to build, have deeper meaning and purpose. Of course, that’s why even with many difficulties, my group of companies is paving its way for the dominant exporter in agro commodities and reliable partner in transports and of course in shipping. So the vision is a long-lasting multi-national conglomerate with ethics and values in the base. It’s just a seed we planted three years ago, and now it has started taking its shape.
4. Describe the services that you offer to your customers and in what way they are unique?
First, I will speak about Ship Brokering and chartering. We are acting as reliable and trustworthy partners for many traders and industries for their large volume shipments. Giving them end-to-end solutions from sourcing commodities within budget and sourcing bulk vessels at a reasonable freight rate and as well as custom and port services through our strategic alliances worldwide.
In Exports and transports, it’s all working on trust and for years we are experts in that. So, of course, from our procurement of agro commodities as per client requirement and on-time delivery, we have excelled in both export and logistics industries, and have mastery in the same.
5. What difficulties have you faced or you are facing?
As business people or entrepreneurs, you should always be mentally strong enough to sail in unchartered waters. We faced enough issues in Team build-up and liquid crunch. Still, we overcame that because we never focused on problems. We focused on solutions. So, out of the ten projects, five new projects have not gone as planned, but as we keep flexibility and changed directions from time to time as per the situation, we can bounce back.
6. How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I believe, personally, there is a solution to every problem. Only time and patience are the solution to the same to manage some issues. If we talk about issues, everyone knows their responsibility and job duties, so all work pressure is equally distributed. As for worklist, we schedule much before, so we don’t have to face such time-bound stress. There are other issues for stress in business that we manage by encouraging discussions within the team. All we have to do is just take care of emotional and mental stress that can be easily avoided by not overthinking about people and situations.
7. How do you market your business?
Organic marketing means word-of-mouth publicity. One client’s experience attracts another client easily, and we have the same experience in exports, transports, and shipping.
We have shifted more towards social media strategic marketing by posting videos of completed projects, operation photos, client experience, and many others. Your network is the net-worth for your business, after all, and that is only generating leads for your business.
8. How many hours a day do you work on an average & can you describe/outline your typical day?
I work for 8-12 Hours maximum. There’s always a significant list of work scheduled the previous day. I have to make calls and appointments. Mainly check out all operations of transport and exports, streamline shipping, and resolve if there are any issues. I always keep myself free to meet up with new people, and clients who approached us to discuss new business opportunities.
9. In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
Honesty, dedication, and commitment, and the feeling of love for what you are doing and hard work, willpower to face any difficulties, and learn from the same. Learning and keeping ourselves updated in our field is important. Even if you have a degree or high education, these qualities and aspects would be essential.
10. What advice would you give to someone starting as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Stay Humble and stick to your core ethics in business. Never expect results early; the journey is always the opposite of what you dreamt; keep confidence in yourself and never look back and lose rhythm. A startup is the wildest dream and challenging phase for anyone ever, so be ready to leave your comfort zone of getting paid on a fixed date for the first few years. That will be the key to success.
Connect Here,
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashutosh-gujarathi-5360b824/
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