Badal Saboo- An Astute Curator of Fashion
Badal Saboo is an astute curator of Fashion, Arts, and Culture with active interests in Real Estate, Hospitality, M&A, Commodities, and a proponent supporter of Start-ups. I had the absolute honour of speaking with Badal as I interviewed him about his journey thus far. The interaction was intriguing indeed.
Ronak: Your investments and professional portfolio reflects your interest in fashion, when did you decide to pick the field of fashion for your career?
Badal: The seeds for creating a value added, sustainable ecosystem within the Fashion realm was sown and kept getting stronger while pursuing my Post graduation from National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi. With a strong commitment to globally cultivate, excel & redefine consumer experiences, I envisioned creating international platforms for ideas to translate into system driven business realities. This commitment of mine put me on a mission to establish a number of successful brands such as Pune Fashion Week, Fashionable Bharat, Face of India, Face of Sri Lanka, Face of Bhutan, Face of Arabia, Face of Jordan, etc. catering to both B2B & B2C stakeholders
Ronak: You began events like Fashionable Bharat and Pune Fashion Week, which continue as a tradition now, even after years. What skills & experiences helped you as a start-up entrepreneur?
Badal: As a start-up entrepreneur in the fashion space, I faced pretty much the same challenges of establishing a brand, cash flow management, product development, etc. just the same as any other start-up entrepreneur in any other business would. What stood me ground through this journey was a combination of base understanding of the fashion industry through my formal education, hard work, perseverance, discipline, very strong networking abilities and my readiness to travel frequently to build and support a chain of highly effective and performing national & international multi-partner organizations.
Ronak: What do you enjoy most about your work?
Badal: The opportunity to be pursuing my passion on my own terms and conditions and connecting the dots while deriving utmost satisfaction is what I thoroughly enjoy in what I do
Ronak: What are some entrepreneurial challenges according to you? What have been some of your key learnings from the experience and also how do you overcome them?
Badal: The major challenges that an entrepreneur faces during their early days is finding themselves the right Mentor who can help them navigate their early critical days in the right manner, gaining a deeper understanding of the Market dynamics as well as connecting them within a supportive ecosystem where they can share and learn from best practices. Having been a part of the Global Entrepreneurs Organization (EO), where we actively mentor earlystage entrepreneurs & start-ups in their growth and M & A phases, I believe that one should keep striving to find the answers & solutions by continuously Learning, Unlearning and Relearning as we evolve on our chosen paths. The day we stop learning is the day I believe is the start of our de-growth phase.
Ronak: Your work also involves providing counselling and mentoring to entrepreneurs. Was there a guiding light for you, while you were starting out your career?
Badal: That’s true. As I mentioned earlier, having a value-added Mentor who plays a pivotal role as a Guiding light and shares the same common passion and vision is so very important for an individual & organization to succeed especially in one’s starting phase. I must admit that I have been profusely blessed to have had and still continue having many opportunities to seek counselling & guidance from remarkable individuals across various sectors giving me varied insights from their respective areas of expertise. My professional involvements with “Connect the Dots” philosophy connect me to Movers & Shakers who have shaped me in ways that I cannot fathom. Every person has something to teach, and I am truly grateful for being able to make new connections every day.
Ronak: Your start-up ‘Fashionable Bharat’ has a very unique proposition; can you please give a brief about the mission and vision of your company?
Badal: FASHIONABLE BHARAT IS AN INITIATIVE TOWARDS EMPOWERING ARTISANS. Fashionable Bharat, is synonymous to the essence of India’s cultural ethos and believes in engaging artisans across the nation to promote their indigenous art forms. The term Fashionable Bharat itself resonates the belief about ‘Bharat’ being truly fashionable for centuries with its distinctive style by its people or architecture. However, over the years, with competition from inexpensive, rapidly produced products of the mechanized age, the relevance of this magnificent art forms has diminished. Fashionable Bharat is thus curated for elevating the prominence of such cultural splendour. It is thereby designed to provide an opportunity to forgotten art forms by positioning them at a fashion canvas to reinstate their value.
Ronak: You have been a judge at many fashion and lifestyle events. How does it feel to interact with the young audience, and what would be your word of advice to the people looking forward to a career in the same field?
Badal: We are fortunate to be witnessing a new, dynamic borderless universe where the opportunities & possibilities are truly infinite. I do admit that one of the secrets to my “constant drive to explore more” comes from the young audience that I keep interacting with. It is a very humbling feeling to witness the talents that we have discovered through our various “platforms” to have risen to great heights having made themselves, their families and communities proud. My advice to all is best summarized in these 2 simple yet powerful statements viz. Be Awesome and Believe in yourself.
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Ronak Pansari is an intern at Bloggers Alliance and an MBA IInd year student at IIM Shillong
