Saurabh Chandekar – Entrepreneur & Founder of AAIBA Design Pvt Ltd, Advertising Agency in Mumbai

Saurabh Chandekar: Indian Entrepreneur and Founder of AAIBA Design Pvt Ltd

At Sugermint, our aim is to bring to our entrepreneurs community some of the inspirational success stories from the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

As part of this endeavour, we invited yet another passionate and young entrepreneur Mr. Saurabh Chandekar for an exclusive interview with us.

This is the interview of Saurabh Chandekar, Indian entrepreneur and founder of AAIBA Design PvtLtd, full-service advertising agency in Mumbai which offers a complete range of mainstream advertising services as well as digital marketing.

Tell us a little about yourself

Saurabh Chandekar: I graduated from Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalay, Pune. I was born into an art driven family and my father , Late Mr. Sadanand Chandekar was a famous stand-up comedian of his time.

It is only right to say that art has always been in my DNA and has always been something that excited me right from the very beginning.

How did you get your idea or concept for AAIBA Design?

Saurabh Chandekar: I started my career working at advertising agencies. Working with corporate helped me hone my advertising skills for which I also won a lot of accolades.

This helped me gain confidence to start my own agency. It was easier to win the trust of our clients with the credentials I had with my previous work experience and I felt I could do much more with my own brand.

Hence, AAIBA was born and I was able to put my passion and skills to best use and serve our clients with the best advertising and creative solutions.

What service(s) or product(s) do you offer at AAIBA Design?

Saurabh Chandekar: We offer a variety of services in our advertising agency. Research and Analysis are our strong points. We make sure that every solution offered to each client is customised according to their brand’s needs.

We offer deep rooted insights, psychological aspects are taken into consideration and then we walk our clients through the process offering consultations that could help their brand further.

What is unique about AAIBA Design?

Saurabh Chandekar: As our name ‘AAIBA’ suggests, we give our client’s communication the right voice it needs. We are very passionate about what we do and the kind of communication we build around it.

We help guide our clients through the advertising world offering experts insights on the market, quality and the estimated budget, etc. We ensure that the client benefits with our association and solutions we provide.

What made you choose this full-service advertising agency?

Saurabh Chandekar: My love for art made me choose advertising as a career. I am an illustrator, designer, performer and I play musical instruments in my free time.

I have art running through my veins and I have always wanted to explore a career that would bring out the best creativity out of me. Advertising was that career and I treat it as an art form more than a profession.

I always wanted to follow my passion and not settle in a corporate job for the sake of it. AAIBA helps me follow and stay true to my dreams and to myself this way.

What was your mission at the outset?

Saurabh Chandekar: In the next 5 years, we plan to take ‘AAIBA’ overseas and expand globally. Going global and offering our services to international clients has been our mission for the longest time and fulfilling that would certainly be a dream come true for me just like any other entrepreneur.

How many employees in AAIBA Design Pvt Ltd?

Saurabh Chandekar: We are a team of 15 people and the majority of the team consists of women which further makes the workplace more empowering.

What’s your company’s goals?

Saurabh Chandekar: Like every entrepreneur , I too hope to see my start up grow into one of the big names in this industry and we are always working towards making that happen.

On an internal level, we are always looking to empower the workplace by hiring more and more talented individuals and making the workplace more comfortable which is why there is no hierarchy present in the organization. This gives individuals room to grow and bring in their best creative self.

How do you build a successful customer base for your advertising services?

Saurabh Chandekar: We were always recognised for our work right from the inception of AAIBA. When you work hard and make a name for yourself in the industry, it is easier to gain trust of your clients.

This is why it is important to build a brand for yourself and for your company. Building a good reputation and combining it with hard work goes a long way. It is imperative to keep the client’s needs satisfied.

For this you need to match the intellect of the client and understand their whole perspective on doing something. And that is how you win them over.

AAIBA has won international awards in New York, Los Angeles for the work we do. We got there with persistence and hard work which was recognised by such prestigious organizations. This just adds feather to our caps and helps clients in trusting us better.

What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

Saurabh Chandekar: I consider failure as a phase of life and how we face it is more important. We need to build a strong core in order to face our failures.

What we define as failure is more important. Our business like every other business faced the brunt of COVID 19 lockdowns last year. However, in such testing times we had nothing but to put a brave face on.

Who has been your greatest inspiration?

Saurabh Chandekar: For inspiration I never looked at the world outside. My world, Aai – Baba have been enough for me to be the kind of person I am today.

What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?

Saurabh Chandekar: I have never regretted anything that I have done during the course of my career. It is about one’s perspective. Making mistakes stems from experimenting with creativity.

If you fear mistakes you won’t be able to go far in the business. My advice is that one should always be open to accepting mistakes to become a better person.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

Saurabh Chandekar: Not to chase glamour or success when you are just starting out. Not all that glitters is gold, it is easy to be attracted towards illusions when you are new. It is important to fall down, struggle to get the better parts of this life.

It has become a trend to start a startup once you graduate college and complete your education. Starting a startup is not harmful but it is harmful to get into the industry without understanding the corporate language, corporate ethics, corporate world, etc.

It is important that youngsters today understand that they need to start at the bottom first to get to the top. Gather as much experience as they can.

Does AAIBA Design help the community or society?

Saurabh Chandekar: We have funded independent projects in the past to financially support artists and production companies.

This stopped for a while during the lockdown but we plan to get into the scene again with funding local theatre plays and dramas.

We hope you find this inspiring success story of Saurabh Chandekar – Indian entrepreneur & founder of AAIBA Design PvtLtd, full-service advertising agency in Mumbai useful and inspiring through your entrepreneurial journey and will keep you inspired.

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