'Teams Build Value, Not Individuals' - Says Ruchi Kalra, Co-Founder, OfBusiness
OfBusiness is a first-of-its-kind technology-driven platform that couples lending with value added services as procurement and marketing. OfBusiness serves as a single-window for SMEs to get secured and unsecured credit lines, which the SMEs can use for cost-effective procurement of raw material on the platform. The platform in turn aggregates these raw materials (metals, polymers, papers and electrical ancillaries), and passes a bulk of the aggregation benefits to the SME across 22 clusters. By providing ‘purchase financing’, OfBusiness guarantees end use of the credit lines, which ensures a best in class business yield and quality of its book. Additionally, the platform also helps the SMEs to find new business opportunities through Tender information packets (BidAssist.com). Ruchi Kalra, Co-Founder and Head of Credit and Payments at OfBusiness, was named as a contender to the BW Disrupt 40 Under 40 list in 2017.
In an interaction with BW Disrupt, Ruchi Kalra talked about his venture.
Success mantra - Perseverance. Perseverance is not giving up. It is persistence and tenacity, the effort required to do something and keep doing it till the end, even if it’s hard. And I believe that sooner or later perseverance gets rewarded.
The driving force behind your journey - The real driving force is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of working with an amazing set of people to set up something of immense value in a super deep market. I am quite thrilled to be part of a team that is working tremendously hard to achieve a goal and build a platform.
Business advice - “Whenever there is a new idea, think of how it will make money,” said the first OfBian.
Tips for budding entrepreneurs - a) Focus on deep markets and a “real” underlying need. Innovate to create solutions tailored for the Indian market.
b)Think upfront about how will the business make money. c) Find the right partners. Trust among team members and 100 per cent focus on execution are critical to build value.
Government support - The government has undertaken many initiatives in the right direction. One of the key requirements for the ecosystem is capital, and anything that eases funding and good corporate governance norms for protecting equity investors’ rights would be of high impact.
The team - Teams build value and not individuals. Our top team is a great example of collaboration across super talented achievers who own their individual domains fully and are bonded together with a common set of values and a razor-sharp focus on execution.
Inspiration - In my life my husband, Asish, has played a pivotal role as a professional coach and as a leader from whom I learn everyday.
The next step - OfBusiness believes in ‘opening the world of possibilities’ for the businesses in India by leveraging technology. As an e-commerce company, OfBusiness aims to make available, ‘better products, at better prices, in better timelines.’ We strive for hassle-free experience, so that buyers can focus on their core business. OfBusiness has done its homework and knows first-hand what will delight customers. Going forward, we will expand from current 22 clusters to 50 in the next year tripling our book size. We would also penetrate deeper in newer sub-segments such as chemicals and packaging, apart from going deeper in the current segments of manufacturing and infrastructure.
