Prahlad Kakar School of Branding & Entrepreneurship – Offering Unique Creative Value to the Individuals

Prahlad Kakar School

Prahlad Kakar School of Branding & Entrepreneurship is the brainchild of the very renowned Prahlad Kakar and Pratish Nair. Standing tall as one of the pioneers in creating entrepreneurs and professionals related to advertising and film making, PKSBE assists to counter the fears and showcase the magic of possibilities for the students.
Pratish Nair is the Managing Director and Founder of PKSBE. From storytelling to movie direction to script writing to strategic activities for entrepreneurs and filmmakers, Pratish is an exemplary leader with huge business acumen. In a conversation, Pratish talks about his long professional journey along with sharing a detailed insight about PKSBE.
Kindly brief us in short about you and your journey since the beginning of your career.
I have always been a very optimistic, self-motivated, go getter person with a can-do attitude. Though I belonged from a business family, I have always yearned to do things on my own terms. My family business, Century Logistics is a 34-year-old company with IINR 100 Crores plus turnover.  Our family is also into trading and film productions under the banner- Kashi films.

However, I have drawn inspiration and learning’s from various stages in my career. My first ever job was working at Dolce & Gabbana in London post my MBA. While I enjoyed my stint there, I met different entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship evoked extreme interest in me.  Therefore, after returning to India, I established my export company Alba Buys which primarily deals in export of granite and silver jewelry under my father’s guidance. With a distinct penchant for creativity, I additionally started Rarity productions which is primarily into content creation.
Few years down the line, during an interaction with a friend we discussed the idea of starting “Crossroads Training Solutions”, which caters to leadership training and team building. Soon we bought the idea into practice and merely in a span of 5 months; we grew from having 5 clients to 120 plus customers. Alongside this, I also started an event management company which did not continue for a long time but definitely helped me commence various industry connects.

The important factor that I learnt during my phase of work was that; an adult never learns, they only want to experience and grow with training on the job. (I shared the idea of starting a school of branding to Prahlad Kakar, under his name and he was thrilled to hear about it. Soon the school came into establishment and we started off with 4 students; by the end of our first year we had 32 students. On the whole I would describe my journey to be a smooth and organic transition. Have always been passionate about movies and now I sit in a college where everybody is a filmmaker- it’s a very happy feeling. It is like the fish has finally found its pond.

How do you describe yourself in one-word or one-sentence?
I consider myself to be an optimistic person who is a risk taker.

Tell us about your passion, aim and goal.
My passion is storytelling. My aim is to make a film and my goal is that a maximum number of people see it, and share their honest feedback with me.

What is that one thing which keeps you motivated?
Every budding entrepreneur aspires to reap the fruits of success; and a platform like PKSBE gives me an opportunity to contribute to the bigger picture that these entrepreneurs envision. This factor of being able to help students overcome their fears and make them believe in their dreams is what keeps me motivated.

You have been the Creative Head of Crossroads Training Solutions since 2005, share with us your extraordinary experiences of almost two decades? What were the major things that you have accomplished during this time period?
The extraordinary experience would be meeting multibillion-dollar IT, ITS manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies and pitching our best training ideas for their CEO’s, general managers or staff. Since I am passionate about storytelling I used to present innovative ideas about workshops and the clients used to love it. So this for me was very unique.

In course of time, we have done team building workshops called the “Greatest show on earth” where 10 international artists based in India would teach team-based activities to the members which they performed by the end of the day. We have also carried out workshops related to physical activities and stunts. Crossroads Training Solutions helped me commence a lot of contacts and that for me is my biggest achievement.

After leading the Creative Section of a renowned organization for a decade, what made you decide to found The Prahlad Kakar School of Branding and Entrepreneurship? Tell us something about the institute and how it is building up business leaders of the generation-next? With what mission, vision and goal, did you established the institute?
It is very important to attain both theoretical and practical knowledge, for any individual who aspires to become an entrepreneur. Understanding this factor, at PKSBE we educate our students to be risk takers and face their challenges each day; we teach them how to handle failures, analyze their mistakes and emerge successfully out of it. Our vision is to develop a world class institution to support the careers and personal development of successful entrepreneurs who will go on to create significant impact on a global platform. In order to achieve this vision we work as a team to develop well rounded students and train them to become business professionals and leaders who are ethical, entrepreneurial, productive and prepared. As a mission of PKSBE we aim for our students to breach the barrier of fear which inhibits creativity and growth and at the same time be socially conscious warriors and winners.
Brief us about the industry scenario from your perspective.
Most of the people just sit on a chair and ideate, entrepreneurs don’t ideate they make things happen. They are the people who accept challenges, prioritize work and take the biggest risks. Entrepreneurs are survivors, from Ambani to Adani they are all just survivors. Also, this kind of a scenario needs more practical knowledge than theoretical and this is exactly what we tell our students.
Challenges are an integral part of every business personality. What are the major challenges that you have faced during entrepreneurial journey?
There were no groundbreaking challenges. Every day is a challenge for me. Everyday asking myself- do we have enough money to turn our dreams into reality and also making sure that we are communicating effectively with our students and other clients are the basic everyday challenges. For us, The Prahlad Kakar School is our little baby; we learn new things each day and just go with the flow.

Tell us something Crossroads Training Solutions.
Crossroads Training Solutions is an experiential training company, it specializes in behavioral skills. We teach everything from leadership to decision making skills in an innovative way. Like I mentioned an adult cannot be taught, so we make sure to conduct our workshops and sessions in a very unique and humorous way.

Kindly state us your memorable achievements and your company’s achievements under your leadership.
We have achieved various awards in the past years, but I believe that these awards are a way of showing love and appreciation. We are a training company and are expected to be excellent and not mediocre. Hence, I would not have anything in specific to term as “Achievements”. We work with passion, we grow every day and the contacts that we’ve made is our biggest achievement

What would you advice to the budding entrepreneurs? 
My advice to the budding entrepreneurs would be, to not “Give Up”. The road to success is not always easy; it brings a few milestones and challenges. Hence learn to accept your failures, understand your mistakes and face all challenges with patience and determination.