Smart Business Telecom founder Sachin Rathi says winning this year’s prestigious Indian Executive Club (IEC) Award for Best Medium Business has motivated him to work even harder for success.
“Absolutely it’s a good feeling but… you’ve just achieved one position, or one success – there’s many more to come,” said Rathi, who’s grown Smart Business Telecom to a turnover in the tens-of-millions. “The whole thing motivates you to plan for a better and more successful future.”
What does the future now hold for Rathi?
He sees potential mergers or acquisitions ahead. “There’s a lot of consolidation happening in our sector – that’s one of the smart ways to extract the value from the assets you’ve built,” Rathi told the Indian Sun. “I’m sure they’ll be someone knocking on our door.”
The IEC Awards are Australia’s first event to recognise the achievements of small to medium-sized businesses and executives from the fast growing Indian Diaspora. Since launching in 2011, they’ve shone the spotlight on rising stars and revealed the depth of talent in this emerging community.
Sharing the winner’s spotlight with Rathi at the milestone fifth Awards ceremony at Peninsula in Docklands on November 21, was Travel & Taste founder Rohit Gupta, who won Best Micro Business, and Kidman Partners’ Manish Sundarjee, who took home Best Small Business.
In the executive awards platform, Sutapa Roychaudhary won Young Female Executive of the Year and Brijesh Purohit Young Male Executive of the Year, while Kam Phulwani claimed the prize for Executive Male of the Year and Sonia Cheema, Executive Female of the Year.
Before the winners were revealed, an icon of Australia’s migrant community and corporate superstar Ahmed Fahour delivered the keynote address. Fahour revealed the values and events that powered his journey to become Australia Post’s Group CEO and Managing Director.
For Rathi, the key takeaway was that Diaspora businesses need to knuckle down and plan in order to adapt and thrive in Australia’s rapidly changing market.
“Certainly the market is shifting,” said Rathi. “You just cannot hold onto the success [you have] and think that’s it, you’ve done enough and you don’t have to plan further.”
“You’ve got to always be on your toes and always be planning to face challenges and overcome those challenges,” he said.
But it wasn’t just about the bottom line, Rathi said: “There were so many things to takeaway; it’s not just money that plays a role, it’s being humble and having that care factor for your people, for customers and for society.”
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