Hello! Please tell us something about yourself. Where are you from, and where did you grow up?
I am Anooja Bashir the CEO and founder of Ourea (OureaCorp and Oureansoul), Co-founder& CMO of FlexiCloud (Managed Cloud Hosting), and COO of Digitaliz (IT Consultancy), and Founder of Anooja initiatives (social entrepreneurship initiative). I handle the role of multi-specialist in my organization, getting involved as a Brand Strategist, Marketing Consultant, Business mentor, and Corporate Trainer. I have tried pretty much a lot in the corporate to have bagged expertise and experience all around.
I am a native of Kochi, Kerala which is otherwise known as God’s own country.I had my most of professional life spend in Dubai. After 10 years of corporate background and another few years in academia in 2014, I decided to bridge the gap of talents of academia and corporate, hence conferred the idea of a finishing school which pathetically failed. Though the concept was rejected, the venture, later on, evolved into a marketing agency, and then with the expansion of the IT wing, we developed ourselves into a 360-degree business management consultancy.
Entrepreneurship wasn’t exactly my dream job but it was like it called me.
Tell us about your Company?
Our Company is 360-degree corporate management consultancy which is into Marketing, IT, HR and training. We help companies to gain a foothold in the industry. Our vision is to become the strategic partner for organizations aiming to achieve excellence in all functions. We give wings to their dreams by providing innovative solutions and helping the target audience to believe in our clients. We aim to exceed our clients’ expectations through innovative and customized solutions that provide your brand with a marketing and corporate boost. Our 7 domains will work in tandem to achieve the business goals of our clients.
We want to understand, provide and work for the best of our clients. We believe in evolving with your respect and strive to maintain a global atmosphere where we value and encourage diversity. We always aim to be righteous with preciseness.
In our creative wing oureansoul, we always strive to blend conceptualization with creativity to bring out our creative side in interiors and events.
Would you please tell me about your education?
I did my graduation with a Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering from Mar Athanasius College of Engineering, Kothamangalam, and a Master of technology from Cochin university of science and technology in ocean engineering: Out of passion for business, I chose International Business as my forte for my Master of business administration.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over the job?
I always wanted to create an innovative system that would be one of a kind. Since I handled different job profiles in my career and had acquired enough knowledge to bring out the best version of me, I just flowed along. It was Entrepreneurship that chose me as if I was born to evolve in this system of creating and innovating new wonders. I feel I never gave up because I knew deep down that it was my passion to develop a company with talents and skilled collaborating into a perfect system, to generate revenue for everyone associated with us. We also believe to contribute to society with our skills. It’s bliss to evolve into a 360-degree business management consultancy which brought me recognition, stability, and strength.
How did you get the idea to start Business Name/Startup Name?
The word Ourea in greek means mountain, where though it’s a struggle to climb up, eventually hard work and efforts take you to the top or help you achieve success. The bird in the logo symbolizes the phoenix that never gives up or breaks and even if it does, it rises from the ashes symbolizing our failures and gradual success.”
Ourea’s business model is built around a unique system representing the 7 primordial deities of Greek mythology: Nysa | Athena | Kithairon | Oreus | Olympus | Helicon | Athos
These 7 entities represent 7 human traits or personas that are embodied in our culture and work philosophy. These entities are further split into our 7 core domains that serve specific business functions:-Consulting| Training | Marketing | IT | Events | Interiors | Photograph
What are your ideals?
I believe that there is nothing in life that can’t be achieved. A mind in its own place can make a hell of heaven and heaven of hell. It’s your willpower and the intense passion that leads you. I believe that if you have an intense dream, the entire universe will conspire for you to achieve it.
No one else can stop you from having anything or being anyone you decide to be. Be kind and considerate to fellow beings and always work towards mutual benefit for all.
What motivates you?
People, innovation, any idea that leads to growth, and various other factors motivate me as it’s an evolutionary process. But my biggest motivation is to challenge me constantly as I keep refining my skills and upgrading me personally and professionally. When I face a tough situation, I start by making all the possible positive outcomes from that situation. At the moment, my motivation has been leading my entire team to higher successes as we are in process of scaling up and expanding
How do you define success?
The word Success is subjective. In my success doesn’t mean only earning a lot of money. If we could create innovative things and contributes towards the transformation of a system or an individual along with generating revenue from the concept you built, then definitely it can be called Success. The blend of the perfect team is also a success as it leads to growth in the future. To get the perfect team is yet again a very tedious task.
Who has been your greatest inspiration?
Indra Nooyi is my role model in business as I always felt she had a very sharp and logical approach to every issue that she encounters. She is a woman of a strong mind and always showed boldness in speaking up about matters. She is an inspiration to the eve race who always gave the example of how to balance personal and professional life.
My mother is my role model on a personal front as she is a woman who inspired me to never give up on my dreams. I got my multi organizing skills from my mother who is a disciplined organizer. My mother has always motivated me with her strong will and always taught me to believe in myself.
How many hours a day do you work on average & can you describe/outline your typical day?
The working hours are not what matter but the productivity and result of the work put in are what matters to us. All of our team members work towards creating the best out of everything.
Can you describe/outline your ordinary day?
I only tend to procrastinate otherwise. I always make sure to eat breakfast, but even as I’m seated at the table, you can expect me to already be browsing through schedules of the day.
My day starts at the gym and then after having my morning breakfast with my family, my professional life begins. Once I am at the office I have a review with my secretary of previous days’ work and updates. I do have a brainstorming session with my partners regarding the operation process and a team meeting with each department according to schedules. I also find time to interact with my clients and attend webinars and conferences.
In the evening I spend time with my family having dinner and discuss that day with each other.I also enjoy Netflix series whenever I get the time and listen to music to release my stress.
How has been an entrepreneur affected your family life and relationships?
Being a woman, it’s indeed a tedious task to manage my responsibilities towards my family as well to my organization. I balance my personal and professional life by planning things priority-wise. Thoughts tough but I somehow juggle my time between work and my family and friends. I think both needs to be given equal importance and it’s a matter of taking up the responsibility and doing it maximum perfectly as you could.
What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
The only constant resource of the company which doesn’t lose its relevance and importance is the powerful and inspiring leaders. So according to me, leadership is the first quality that an entrepreneur needs to possess for being successful.
In my opinion, the other key qualities that an entrepreneur needs is to be effective in delegation and result orientation.
In addition to this, we must have a deep understanding of the necessities of CxO’s expertise in the field which allows us to get an in-depth knowledge of the needs and trends allowing us to train and manage HR accordingly
What piece of advice would you give to college graduates who want to become entrepreneurs?
Nothing is built in a day. We need a lot of perseverance, endurance, and commitment to reach our goals. Never ever give up on your dreams. Like Paulo Cohelo’s saying “And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” So keep trying, stay focused, increase your knowledge, strengthen your network, build a great team, and besides all believe in yourself and your dreams.
Read More: From Job to Freelance to CEO of a Digital Agency
Also, failure is always going to be a part of your life, you’ll keep failing and that becomes the major source of learning. Though it might seem to be a hard way, it is indeed the best way. Failure is the step towards success. So embrace your failures and learn from them