Rising of a women from sales executive to co-founder of multicr company - Minal Bhagat

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Minal Bhagat, an #IronLady, as I see her, I got to know her very recently, almost a year back.

When I heard her for the first time, I was completely awestruck. She was delivering a lecture on “Tackling Politics At Work”. We were all glued to the screen and were listening carefully to her. When she was done talking, I realised that I just attended a lecture of a lifetime. She was so mesmerising…

I was always keen to know about her journey, how she achieved what she has achieved and much more.. 

We started working on a common social platform, and I got to know more about her..  

Here is an incredible and beautiful Minal Bhagat, a marketing evangelist, for you

Minal Bhagat, Co-Founder and  Director of Company Ensonic Computech.

Her Brand “EKIN”, which is a Sanskrit translation of Simplicit,y is specialized in creating solutions and products related to smart class, Virtual class and Video Conference solution.

She started her journey in retail sales, organically grew to become Sales Manager, Sales head and eventually Vice President. She grew up in an environment where women and men were treated equally. The men around her, her Father, her Brother, and her friends,     always made her feel that her views were as important as theirs.  

When she got married, she says, “together we built our paradise”. To say that she is lucky would be an understatement. She has always been surrounded by men who never questioned her ability to achieve success. Her husband has been her greatest strength and has supported her in all ways to make her career successful. He has kept her infant son more in nights than she had. Her father-in-law was no different; she received support from him as she received from her own father. He would help with household chores just to make sure that she had enough energy to put in her best at work. Hence, her faith in gender equality was reinforced. 

According to her, there are many negative connotations when it comes to the words “working mom”. She saw many women throughout her career who took a break from work after having kids. When she entered that phase of her life, everything changed for the better, and her urge to continue progressing in her career never faded. Some people around her tried to make her feel guilty about keeping her career and her motherhood at par.  She says, “Life isn’t easy when you not only want to balance your career and your personal life, but to maximise both sides gives me a sense of accomplishment and fulfilment”.

Her principle in life is to live to the fullest. Amidst all the suggestions of moving out of a sales career after becoming a mother, she continued to work in field sales. She had successfully delivered her targets year after year, with the fulfilling experience of parenting a beautiful son who is now 26 years old. And with this, she realised that if one surrounds oneself with people who support, one can achieve goals in life.

Her passion towards product selling led her journey of an Entrepreneur.

Every Step taken by her was seen as a result of her efforts rather than failure or success. And she says, “This perspective was the sole reason for my growth”.  

Let’s listen to the lady 

Q:  Would you have done things differently if you were a man?

A: Yes, two decades back, I certainly thought so. Gender Bias awareness had grown by then. But I personally have no regrets as I have come across many men in my life who have been instrumental in my growth, starting from my husband, son, my boss, and my colleagues. I feel I am extremely privileged to have met so many wonderful men during my journey.

Q:  What have been some of your biggest achievements?

A: Every cycle of growth and timely change of orbit is my biggest achievement. My decision to challenge myself from a salaried employee to an entrepreneur, from one hat to multiple hats, has been my biggest achievement.

Q:  What’s one leadership lesson you’ve learned in your career?

A:  You only get what you negotiate in Life not what you deserve.

Q: What are some strategies that can help women achieve a more prominent role in their organisations?

A:  Here are a few strategies, which I believe and I have practised myself

•             Believe in yourself

•             Stand up for yourself and to the world

•             Have a long term Vision

•             Winning without waging a war

Q:  What are your hobbies/interests?

A: I love singing as well as Dancing. 

Q: How do you balance professional and personal life?

A: Balance gives me a hint of Compromise hence I work towards maximising in all aspects of life, whether it be work or home. I would say I Maximise My Career & Motherhood. 

Q:  What is your contribution to the corporate business, and what are your practices?

A: As Rabindranath Tagore said, “You are one-half woman and one-half dream”. We are more than just our gender; we as women need to dream big and shoot for the stars. 

Q:  What impact do you want to make in the industry and society by your work, and what are your goals?

Today’s women are empowered with gender equality improving year after year. Women are working shoulder to shoulder with men in all aspects of life and breaking all stereotypes. You will see women fighting wars for the nation, flying aeroplanes and even farming, but why are we underrepresented in a career path like Sales?

There are a lot of prejudices about how sales jobs are defined and what type of person should assume a sales role. Add on to this another demographic, deeper, one like motherhood, or a specific ethnicity, and the gender representation is almost non-existent. Once you become a mother, it’s an uphill battle to go against what society has been trained to think: that mothers belong at home and not in the workplace. But it’s time we give up that notion. It has been proven that organisations benefit greatly from the different perspectives and strengths that women bring.

It took me 25 years to understand what “my goal” is. I would like to enable all girls to find one and ensure that they do not take 25 years of their life to decide that. Let me empower as many girls as possible to help fix their goals.

Q:  What plans do you have for your organisation that differentiate it from the others, and where do you want to take it?

A: The future of smart and digital classrooms is bright, and there are very few companies that have a complete product and solution range in this domain. Solution approach rather than product approach in digitisation is unique, and not many have the understanding of classroom products, teaching, recording and broadcasting. You may have experts of audiovisual separately, but a combination of interactive panels with audio, visual broadcasting and recording classrooms is revolutionary. We have already taken the coaching industry by storm with our complete package, besides the schools, colleges and university solutions . The education industry, too for digitization sky is the limit.

Q:  Besides your regular activities, do you mentor any male or female entrepreneurs?

A:  As a working woman, it is important to me to work in a company that allows me to maximise both my personal life and career. While numbers are important, so is our personal life and happiness”. Life here is full of learning and achievements. I’ve had the chance to make a difference by giving our customers the best-in-class solutions through the digitisation of their classrooms. I’ve gotten to interact with experts in various industries, and it’s an enriching experience that not many people get. This also brings unique challenges, but at the end of the day, it is highly rewarding. My journey here has only begun. I know that this journey will have many unique challenges, but I know that I have the support at home and at this company, and I have great mentors to guide me in the direction of success. I am excited to be part of an organisation with an ecosystem that supports and enables me to maximise, not balance. 

She signs off by saying, “In this journey would love to train as many people as possible to become great sales performers”.