Avon's Sethna: Chucked her job at Madura Coats to become her own boss

Abhishek Gupta, 25, is just two years into his work life and already earns close to Rs 1 lakh a month and drives around in a brand new Indica, which he recently gifted himself. No, he isn't your typical hi-flying management graduate from a top business school, just a plain Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) from Jagannath International Management School, New Delhi. He's neither employed by an MNC nor even a top investment bank. In fact, here's the catch, he doesn't work for anyone!

If you haven't guessed by now, Gupta, much like India's growing army of over two million-odd sales entrepreneurs, is self-employed. Gupta sells general insurance for Bajaj Allianz in New Delhi. For the rest, it could be anything from soaps to books, kitchenware to auto loans, insurance to mutual funds.

Masters of their own routines and rewards, these people have opted for being sales entrepreneurs simply because it's empowering. And forget about just income-less housewives taking to being direct sellers for companies such as Avon, Amway and Tupperware, though a majority of the 1.3-million sales entrepreneurs with the 16-odd companies that form the Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA) is still women (40 per cent is men).

Today, becoming an independent seller is a choice that even working professionals are taking. "There are many instances of well-qualified people quitting regular jobs to take up insurance selling because it is a lucrative opportunity," says Rajesh Sud, Director (Agency, Bancassurance and Direct Sales Distribution), Max New York Life.

Take the case of Mumbai-based Havovi Sethna, 40, an erstwhile employee at Madura Coats. Besides the freedom to set her own work-time, there was no way her BCom degree could have taken her this far in life. Eight years ago at Madura, she was barely earning Rs 3,000, but now as an Independent Sales Manager with Avon, she brings home almost Rs 70,000 per month.

"Exotic foreign trips that come with achieving targets is the icing on the cake," says Sethna. Bajaj Allianz's Gupta has relegated his family-run artefacts business to a part-time endeavour now, instead focussing his energies on taking up his six-figure income by selling insurance products such as health, personal, accident, and travel to corporates.

Move Over Pots And Pans

What's best though is that pioneering work done by the Amways and Avons over the last decade in making direct selling both acceptable, respectable and rewarding, has really opened up opportunities for entrepreneurship to bloom across banking, mutual funds, bonds and initial public offerings.

Bajaj Allianz's Gupta: Sidelined his family business to focus on direct selling

Over 20 per cent of the industry sales of Rs 1,381 crore comes from insurance products, with non-IDSA direct sellers-companies such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Citibank and ABN Amro, who sell anything from auto loans to personal/business loans through their direct selling associates (DSA)-totting up another Rs 1,064 crore in sales.

According to insurance regulator IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority), private insurers already boast 200,000 life-insurance agents and 5,777 non-life insurance agents (as of March 31, 2004). So you can look at it as a Rs 2,500-crore industry, with over 100 companies to choose from in over 300 product and service categories that cannot be mass-sold very effectively. "It (appointing direct sellers) helps save time and costs incurred in setting up a conventional sales and distribution structure, and also in maintaining low overheads," says Asha Gupta, gm, Tupperware India. With the India success story luring all manner of foreign companies, the demand for direct sellers will only swell.

Easy To Get In

To become a direct seller with IDSA takes just a few thousand rupees, dollops of grit and determination, and little else. However, for selling financial products such as mutual funds or insurance, you need to clear the mandatory tests of the Association of Mutual Funds of India and the IRDA, respectively. Well, getting in is the easy part, though; staying put and succeeding, as in most selling jobs, is the difficult part, with just a third of the three million people who have dabbled in being sales entrepreneurs in the past decade, staying put.

Being a good networker, a glib talker and the ability to walk the customer through the entire sales process helps. "Initially it was tough convincing people about the hygiene and durability of the products, that too plastic products with expensive price tags," says Bangalore-based Sreelata Kumar, a top-performing consultant with Tupperware. But we all know how time and 55,000-consultants down, Tupperware products have gained a strong foothold even amongst health- and design-conscious middle-class consumers. "Selling is a cakewalk now," says Kumar. Anyone for a piece of the growing sales entrepreneurs' pie?

SPOTLIGHT
Food Stylists

Food Stylist Fernandes: Food for the cameras

Do you have the keen eye of a photographer with the aesthetics of a chef? if yes, you can try the job of a food stylist. Food styling, Michael Swamy Fernandes, a Mumbai-based food stylist who started his career as a chef in London, says is all about "presenting food for the camera". So whether it is magazines, cookery books, food shows on TV, ads, hoardings or restaurant menus, a food stylist these days is pretty indispensable. Best of all, currently there are just a handful of food stylists in the country, with the field wide open as niche publications, lifestyle TV channels and shows, and above all gourmet restaurants, proliferate. There aren't any courses in India on food styling, but if you have the flair for it, a quick one-week course at the Culinary Institute of America can start you on a career that pays around Rs 20,000 for a day shift.

-Amanpreet Singh

COUNSELLING
Help, Tarun!

I am a 35-year-old post-graduate in political science, working as a branch manager at a reputed film distribution company. I am responsible for branch administration and marketing of movies that are distributed by the company. Although my field of work is interesting, chances of growth and future prospects are limited, and also the money is not good. Prior to this, I was in charge of territory sales for an FMCG major. I am thinking of going back to the FMCG sector. Will I be doing the right thing?

The fact is that in our country the FMCG sector is more organised and established than the feature film distribution industry. Plus, the remuneration is also good. Hence, I can understand your desire to move back to the FMCG sector. I would say go ahead and do it. However, professionalism in film distribution and related industries in the entertainment area is something whose time has come. This sector may be worthwhile looking at in the future.

I am a 21-year-old science graduate. I've taken the CAT once but was unable to fare well. I wanted to take time off and prepare hard to get admission into one of the country's premier B-schools. My predicament is that my father doesn't want me to waste a year preparing for CAT. He has already submitted forms for an MBA course in a college that I've never heard of. I can't say anything because I am financially dependent on him. However, I do not want to do my MBA from a low-rung institute. Please help.

I agree with you that it is better to get into a good business school, though it may be difficult, than opt for any institute offering an MBA. I also agree with your father that you need not waste a year just preparing for cat and there is no guarantee you will get admission. Chances are, you will study four-to-five hours in the day and spend the rest doing nothing. You need to be realistic. Depending on your capability, apply to institutes where you think you have a good chance of getting admission. If you think you can clear cat, then convince your father that at 21, one year of preparation may be worthwhile from a lifetime career point of view. You can also opt for a part-time job and have a back-up plan in case you do not clear cat.

I am a 30-year-old science graduate with a post-graduate degree in rural development. I have been working with an NGO for the last five years. But I have never been happy with the nature of the job. Now I want to move to a different sector. I would like to know what options are open to me. I am keen on doing an MBA from a reputed institute. Is it possible to do an MBA at this stage, and if yes, can I get any financial support?

I do not see why you should have any problems doing an MBA at this stage. Also, there are institutes that offer correspondence courses and part-time evening courses. Should you opt for a part-time or evening course, you will not have to give up your job. This way you can fund your studies yourself, without requiring financial support from others. At the same time, should you require, you can also avail of student loans, which are easily available. Your stint in the NGO sector may actually be a plus on your resume.

I am a 25-year-old electronics & communications engineer, working in a multinational company for the last two years. Prior to this, I had worked in a BPO outfit for less than a year. But I quit fearing a shutdown, given the anti-BPO sentiment in the US. However, my current company is going through a financial crisis, and there is no scope for growth in the near future. Today I feel it would have been better if I had stuck with my initial employer since the BPO sector seems to have taken off. Please advise what I should do and which industry I should join to boost my career prospects.

In today's times, we will have to get used to the fact that a sector that may seem to be a rising star may suddenly hit a rough patch. One has to be prepared to face any kind of eventuality. It is something we all have to live with. Luckily for you, with your background and experience, you have quite a few options. You can look at the telecommunications sector, the media and entertainment sector, and the hardware and software sector. You could also rejoin the BPO sector. You are only 25 and that gives you the flexibility of doing all these. I do not see why you should have any problems in getting a job in sectors you have already worked in.

Answers to your career concerns are contributed by Tarun Sheth (Senior Consultant) and Shilpa Sheth (Managing Partner, US practice) of HR firm, Shilputsi Consultants. Write to Help,Tarun! c/o Business Today, Videocon Tower, Fifth Floor, E-1, Jhandewalan Extn., New Delhi-110055..

Referral Rewards
Be a headhunter for your company. It pays.

TechSpan's Gupta: Four referrals, Rs 1 lakh in pocket

Just five months into his new job at juniper Networks, and Siddhartha Bhan, 30, has already earned over Rs 5 lakh on the side. No, he hasn't been moonlighting, only that he has helped place five new people at his Bangalore-based company, and earned a neat Rs 1.12 lakh per referral. Then, Kamal Gupta, a consultant at Noida-based TechSpan, made over Rs 1 lakh by referring four candidates. Cisco Systems pays Rs 88,000 for every successful hire through employee referral.

With it companies on a hiring spree, employees are realising there is money to be made in referrals. Most it firms today have an hr policy to fill over a third of all new hiring through employee referrals. It makes sense both ways. "Employees are best ambassadors both for the company and those they refer, and know exactly who fits in the company," says Charles Caldwell, hr Director (Asia Pacific), Juniper. And even though the cash rewards seem arbitrarily high, most recruiters will tell you that other means in terms of professional headhunters or recruitment ads work out much more costlier.

-Supriya Shrinate

PG In Economics?
Time to polish your resume. India Inc. needs you.

Aditya Birla's Ranade: It's an economist's world

Guess who India Inc. is turning to as a guide in an increasingly globalised world order, with newer business risks in currency fluctuations, inflation and regulatory risks in foreign markets, and above all conducting business in the era of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)? Well, it's the humble economist.

"Our job is not merely to analyse the current economic situation, but also make forecasts based on research on various variables such as price, demand, interest rates and other specific business-related risks," says Ajit Ranade, Chief Economist at the Aditya Birla Group. Little wonder then, Indian companies across the board are beefing up their erstwhile one-man 'economic cells'. The Aditya Birla Group has a couple of economists on its rolls, the Tata Group six, auto major Mahindra & Mahindra two, and even a logistic company like DHL has taken in an in-house economist.

Whilst a good masters degree in economics is a pre-requisite for a corporate economist's job, the clincher comes from Siddhartha Roy, Chief Economist, Tata Group, who puts it as "the ability to marry fundamental knowledge of economics with market and business requirements''. And so much better if you have a business school degree in finance on top of it all.

-Ashish Gupta