In an interview with Insights Success, Nirav Patel, Founder of Abaj World gave some insightful answers highlighting the influences made by his company to take wellness programmes to a new level.
- Kindly tell us about your company.
Ahmedabad based company, Abaj Electronics is one of the largest and highly competitive brands in digital electronics world. Innovation with technology on the leading edge and wide range of products brings totally a new dimension of entertainment with superior quality products. Abaj is always passionate about learning ultra modern and latest technologies that has resulted into the most innovative products in the digital world.
Abaj products are a blend of world class technology, high performances and novel designs. Energy-saving devices manufactured that are dwelled in a unique design, is a delightful experience hence Abaj is proved to be a leader of the industry. Abaj Electronics is not just a brand, but an innovation above par. Abaj makes available in India its wide range of consumer electronics, like LCD & Imperia LED, Washing Machines, and Sound Bars.
- Briefly, tell us about the CEO/Founder of the company.
Way back in 2012, the foundation of Abaj World was laid by Nirav Patel. Hailing from small village of Kadi Taluka of Mehsana District of Gujarat, he graduated as BE (Electronic and communication) in the year 2011. This Young and dynamic fellow, left family business to walk is own path. After completing studies, Mr. Patel felt he needed to make a name for himself outside his family owned real estate businesses. Nirav decided to give the entrepreneur inside him a go and focused on starting his own business.
Starting your own venture is different from a family business and harder than you initially think, but interestingly enough, it gets easier as you set a vision and work on it step by step. Mr. Patel started with share market trading but it was not a smooth start. After bearing a loss of 50,000, Mr. Patel decided to switch to stock Brokerage Company by the name SENS Global, which is listed amongst top 5 franchises globally. This was not enough for the dreamer. In 2010, while working for Kenneth he came across a customer who had imported LED TV from Thailand and was struggling with two to three containers for its sales. Mr. Nirav helped him out and managed to sell those containers. While he had done this easily he thought he could get into this venture. He started analyzing the demand for various products; he visualized great scope for products in consumer durable. And this is how the seed of ABAJ WORLD was sown.
- How do you work on your long-term relationship with your clients?
We are a very large country and here, fundamentally, there are consumers with a thought process. But consumers keep evolving, especially in the information age, where the digital and social environment is such that information is shared on a real-time basis. Therefore, loyalty is no longer what it used to be, probably 10-15 years ago. You have to keep updating yourself all the time to catch up with the pace of customer expectations. This philosophy is very much applicable to things like mobile phones or personal grooming products. It is extremely important to understand how customer behaviour and their expectations are changing all the time. Therefore, insight collection is very important. And so is utilizing the social network capabilities. Second is the customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities which we have created and also the feedback [that we get] from our existing customers through our after-sales network. Using this information for our future product planning is what we are trying to achieve.
- What are the values and factors that you attribute your success to? Also, suggest the one quote which adorns your company very well.
I feel that my strongest attribute is my ability to work well under stress. Under stress or pressure- many people have difficulty being productive- but I have had to learn how to cope with the stress and remain productive. I firmly believe that stressful situations provide us with opportunities to grow- both personally and professionally. In short I view stress as an opportunity to rise to the occasion and learn more about myself. I feel that this trait can provide me with benefits regardless of the situation I find myself in.
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world”
- Kindly brief us about the new technology trends?
Bigger television screens have always been much sought after. With a surge in consumers’ disposable incomes, the demand for Smart Televisions has shot up, contributing around 18-20 percent to sales in India’s electronics sector, industry experts say. According to an India Brand Equity Foundation report on the electronics sector, India’s television industry is expected to expand to $16.8 billion by 2020 from $9.4 billion in 2016. But what is keeping consumers away from adopting Smart TVs on a larger scale?
Availability of Smart TVs at par with normal televisions has helped them become one of the preferred mainstream products not just in larger metros but also in smaller towns and tier II cities. A Smart TV is at times also referred as connected TV or hybrid TV. These are televisions equipped with the ability to interact with the Internet, giving consumers access to a plethora of online content. So there is humongous demand which can be served!
- What are the future advancements of your company and how well-equipped are you?
The Indian economy is seeing a radical shift since the last decade; growing at a fast pace and with its strong manufacturing base and growing services sector, it has become a great business destination. India is not anymore a part of our emerging market business but has been carved out as the number one priority market.  With investments on products, talent, marketing and manufacturing, we aim to strategically leverage our expertise and resources in India for the benefit of other emerging market. The company has successfully started its operations in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhatisgadh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamilnadu. Further, the company will be expanding operations in all major metro and non-metro cities including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra,  Kolkata, Bihar,  Jharkhand, Greater Punjab and Delhi NCR. The company intends to be present across India by the end of the year. With presence in 8 states, Abaj Electronics has a network of 75 Distributors and 1400 Dealers. Further the brand is offering dealership across India. The products will also be available online. The company also plans to sell through institutional sales network and modern sales.
At present the focus of the brand is on LCDs and LED TVs, as these are niche products and their buyers are mostly young educated couples. In the next two to three months, Abaj will introduce ACs, and Washing Machines, and we will be targeting the middle-class consumer base.
In sync with the government’s initiative of Make in India, Abaj will start manufacturing in India by June 2018. Spread over 55000 sq meters, it will have the capacity of manufacturing 1500pieces per day. With this the company will get a further edge as it will be able to increase product offering, volume and market. At present the R&D of Abaj Group is based in Ahmadabad. Also the company plans to start the designing of products in China as it has world famous designers. The operations in China will commence in mid August in 2018.
