We invited Shalima Motial, Founder &CEO of Dream Catchers Vision Pte Ltd, for an interview with Most Popular Stories. Let’s know more about her entrepreneurial journey.
- Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an entrepreneur
I am Shalima Motial. I am the Founder & CEO of Dream Catchers Vision Pte Ltd, an events company based in Singapore. Dream Catchers is in its tenth year. As the name suggests, our Events company has caught the dreams of many people through its various niche events and has created a solid platform for artists across age groups and nationalities. Dream Catchers has co-produced many events with prominent channels like Zee TV which were aired to a huge diaspora of millions. We have organized 35 nationwide contests and scores of onstage events both competitive and non-competitive. In recent years, the company has ventured into Theatre Productions and Short Films production.
- Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
I wanted to work towards my own dreams and goals, my own business idea. The flexibility and choice it gave me in terms of work-life balance was a big draw too.
- What was the vision behind it?
I moved to Singapore 17 years back and felt the need for a platform for artists to showcase their singing, acting, dancing talents. That is how the idea came about. I started Dream Catchers with a desire to serve as a steppingstone to help performing artists in their journey to discovery. This evolved along the way to create platforms aimed at supporting and celebrating women’s empowerment and entrepreneurs. So, platforms such as Runway Mom, Runway Lovers, and IVenture came about.
- Describe the services that you offer to your customers and in what way they are unique?
I focus on “Niche” events.
We’ve provided a platform to performing Artists across age groups through platforms such as Runway Talent Hunt and our various online events. We collaborated with a lot of other event companies in Singapore to run nationwide Talent Hunts for artists like Farhan Akhtar, Salim Sulaiman, Harshdeep Kaur, Javed Ali etc. Dream Catchers has co-produced many events with prominent channels like Zee TV which were covered on TV to a huge diaspora of audience. We hosted a contest for Singapore that aired on MTV Asia Pacific, Middle East, Canada and the Americas.
Another niche area we are in focuses on women empowerment. Runway Mom and Runway Lovers was my brainchild. We ran 5 successful seasons. It was a platform for women to walk the fashion ramp with their children, husband, family, or even by themselves and make lifetime memories. This was a non-competitive event and quite a few of the models who walked had never been on the ramp before. They got a chance to come on TV through the platform as most of our seasons were either covered by Colors TV or Zee TV.
In collobration with Zee TV, we co-produced IVenture. This was a platform for Entrepreneurs in Singapore.
In recent years, we created “Timeless Tales”, a Theatre Production aimed at families to watch age old timeless stories retold to modern settings. Our audience members were from ages 8-80 yrs old. Our cast and crew was made of 16 Nationalities.
More recently, during lockdown we’ve focussed on producing Short Films.
- What difficulties which you have faced or you are facing during the pandemic?
The Singapore Govt has done a fabulous job of controlling Covid-19 situation here. As a part of these measures gatherings above 5 are not allowed. So all entertainment events are on a pause. We have diversified into short films. As an Entrepreneur, one has to keep evolving and re-inventing business strategies. Our short films are aimed at providing some relief during these difficult times, and a couple of them were aimed at important sensitive topics like dealing with Depression and Domestic violence.
- How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
As an Entrepreneur stress, nervousness, excitement and many other varied emotions are a part and parcel of the journey.
One needs to be very organized and once you have a to-do list and are able to tick most things on it, stress becomes less. I always have back up and my back up is the strongest😊. I do my best and leave the rest to God and till date, I have not been disappointed, so I am a happy customer.
- How do you market your business?
We market our events through social media. With time, we have built a brand name and word of mouth also works well for our events. Singapore is a very connected market and so that helps in spreading the word about the upcoming events.
- How many hours a day do you work on average & can you describe/outline your typical day?
During events and specially when we are a month away from the main event, it’s almost 12-14 hours a day. Otherwise, it’s usually about 8-10 hours since there are a lot of meetings, planning and reaching out to the sponsors, reaching out to the perfect target audience. Promoting the event but since I am so passionate about what I do, it doesn’t seem like work. I enjoy every bit of it. At the same time, as a business owner, you also have the flexibility of planning your off days or off-hours.
- In your opinion what are the keys to success?
I am still taking baby steps and working hard, miles before I actually call myself successful. I always feel both overwhelmed and humbled when asked to give interviews and speak at forums about my journey and success. So far what I have learned is that hard work, perseverance, and keeping your target audience/client’s best interests in mind always help. When you have your heart in the right place, everything works in your favor. When you come from a place of “Life is for me and not against me” then you are in gratitude always and that’s the best attitude to have.
- What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
You should align your passion with your job in order to achieve self-actualization and help others achieve the same.
Pls pursue a field that you are passionate about, then your life will seem easy and you’ll not feel stressed about going to work, you’ll look forward to it.
As an Entrepreneur, I was also not making money, one has to take failure also in your stride and learn from it and move on. Evolve your idea, don’t be married to the initial idea you started out with, in case that’s not working, be ready to evolve.
There should always be a rhythm to life. The first and last 20-30 minutes of the day should be spent internalizing, practicing gratitude, off screens, mixing work with joy and feeling alive.
Our health is of utmost importance so take care of yourself, give yourself a priority as you have to live with yourself the longest. When you are not hard on yourself that’s when you’ll enjoy everything you are doing in life to the most. It’ll make “starting your career” feel less intimidating and more humanistic. Meditate, do yoga, exercise, seek God, don’t think these are the things for when I am old, no one knows how long each of us have on this Earth. Do important things TODAY!
Easy Busy- feeling of effortlessness, combination of contributing, learning and fun
- What’s the latest project you worked on?
I recently modelled for a brand called “Infiniti Jewels”. Infiniti Jewels aim to provide access to unique, flawless gemstones, packaged in exquisite bespoke designs – celebrating the beauty and love one piece of jewellery at a time. In the picture you can see the fabulous set I am wearing. Life is good. Couple of other projects are in the pipeline.
- Dream Catchers Website : www.dreamcatchersvision.com
- Dream Catchers FB Page : https://www.facebook.com/dreamcatchersvision
- Dream Catchers Instagram : dream_catchers_vision
These are the links of the short films produced this year
FlipSide
Duration- 4:35 secs
Film Link : https://youtu.be/GlsuEbus4Uk
Written and Acted by Shalima Motial
Directed and Edited by Himanshu Motial
Produced by Dream Catchers
Synopsis – It’s based on “Domestic Violence” as this has become even a bigger issue in the days of the pandemic. To have kin and work and play. Yet she knows no other way.
Caged
Duration- 11:46 secs
Film Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLE_-tg6ti8
Written and Acted by Shalima Motial
Directed and Edited by Himanshu Motial
Produced by Dream Catchers
Synopsis – Caged was made to bring out awareness about “Mental Health”
Depression is an unspoken, often unfathomable turmoil people experience in their heart & head. It’s a small initiative of Dream Catchers to shed some light on such an important issue which has become a ‘taboo’ to talk about openly. People find it hard to accept that they are going through “Depression”, so asking for help becomes even more difficult. It’s our humble initiative & we have Tree of Life aboard as our Mental Health Partner
Soulmates
Duration: 7:22 secs
Film Link : https://youtu.be/ZRmqNzO4i24
Acted by : Shalima
Written, Directed, Acted by :Himanshu
Produced by Dream Catchers
Synopsis : Soulmates is a film which was a part of India Film Project’s 50 hour challenge. It was writte, conceptualised, shot, dubbed, edited and submitted within 50 hours. The topic was “Stop at Nothing”
It was subsequently edited for clarity and music. It speaks volumes about one’s passion I feel, when such a product comes out under so much time pressure, it has to be sheer love for the craft.
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