Jigyasa Laroiya, the CEO of a leading branding agency, 30thfeb, is from Bikaner, a city located in Rajasthan. Right now, she is one of the successful entrepreneurs. But her path to success involved much more than some glamorized notions of being a dreamer. She considers being born and raised in a joint family bliss as it developed a robust value system, steadiness, security, and solidarity.
Her academics involved her doing an MBA in marketing which truly complimented her knack for branding. With a sense of determination and an achiever’s attitude, she stuck to the decisions she made throughout her academia and early career. She had always been a branding enthusiast and was keen on either advertising or branding after her studies. She kept striding ahead and soon completed her post-graduation in 2006. It might sound simple, but her road to following her passion wasn’t a bed of roses.
Her love for branding was initiated during her management studies. She had an inbuilt flair for improvising and streamlining the creative aspect of businesses. Jigyasa did several internships that further boosted her confidence and fuelled her passion for branding. She was laden with accolades during her marketing projects throughout her internship that offered limitless encouragement. She started taking on more responsibilities, consumer research projects and went out of her way to do her best in each task. Jigyasa was ‘happy’ to go the extra mile! Well, isn’t that the beauty of doing something you’re passionate about?
Another thing about being profoundly passionate about a cause is that lucrative offers can’t sway you away from your goal. Despite receiving some ‘hard to say no to’ offers to post her management course, Jigyasa declined them as they were not in the field of her choice. She was exceptionally clear about offering value and what she wanted to achieve, which is why she never settled for less.
Soon after, she landed a job in branding in Bangalore, which she continued for two years. Post this. She shifted to Mumbai. It’s needless to say that the commercial capital of India was quite the hub for advertising and branding at the time! She worked in the business’s operational side and handled vendor management during her tenure in Mumbai. Even though she was pursuing a marketing role, she worked in direct coordination with the management and business heads at the Alia Group (now Diadeis, India).
Even though the job was in line with her passion, something felt missing. Jigyasa had a lot to offer and wanted to create a more significant impact with her skillset. So, she left her job in October 2009 with enthusiasm for building something of her own. It honed her decision-making skills and gave her the confidence to start her initiative from scratch! She gave herself a timeline, which meant if her initiative didn’t work or progress in the next two years, she would be getting back to Corporate. It’s safe to say that Jigyasa took calculative risks with a safety nest instead of just heading out there without a strategy.
Founder of 30thFeb – Jigyasa Laroiya
Within a month of leaving her job, she formed 30THFEB, the branding agency. Jigyasa Laroiya started with a creative ‘Mall Management Calendar’ and approached many malls to pitch them that. She was full of ideas, enthusiasm, and willingness to take a chance at that time. Soon enough, she bagged a month-long event – Summer Camp at the Wave Mall in Noida.
After landing this first assignment, Jigyasa dived into mall event planning and customer engagement tactics for around three years. It was crucial to manage the cash inflows and build the required capital. But she knew that to take it to the next level, she needed a team of experts. So, she slowly and steadily built a team to help her manage the ongoing projects.
Once the capital they needed was in sight, they slowly moved back to the first love – branding, but they needed to manage the cash flow. So, they switched to branding while parallelly carrying out the mall engagement activities. This transition of moving from one area of focus to another had to be a smooth process. Jigyasa spearheaded the transition, and soon enough, they accumulated a solid ten clients in their portfolio with her team!
But as we all know, the crowd rarely trusts the path less traveled. Many people disagreed with her choices, decisions, and path throughout her start-up journey. Some called her ‘hasty.’ Some others called her ‘impulsive.’ Some friends advised her against leaving her stable income job and going after an imaginary venture.
On the other hand, since she was a solopreneur first, she had to handle everything single-handedly. She didn’t take any loans or sponsorship or help from investors. Sometimes she felt the pinch due to limited resources and work overload, but she was determined to move ahead, and her hard work took care of the rest.
However, these backlashes did not deter Jigyasa. Jigyasa was hell-bent on breaking out of the mold that society had created for girls. She walked ahead and had an absolute belief in her passion and abilities. Her family and close friends stood like pillars by her side! She is now living her passion and making the most of it – every single day! Her motivation sources are the people who believed in her through thick and thin. Reading books and listening to music does help, says she.
Today, 30THFEB has multiple client associations that have lasted for around a decade. “Happy to share we were a simple bean bag and sofa at home start-up to now, a bubbling team of 7 plus advisors and freelancers!” Jigyasa is determined to make these statistics grow every passing year.
When we asked, looking at her office, her dedicated team and the name that 30THFEB has made for itself is what makes Jigyasa smile and stride ahead?
Jigyasa Laroiya feels proud to have heard her instinct and pursued her passion. With a sincere attitude and a broad smile, she kept battling all the brickbats thrown her way and counted her blessings to reach where the entire team has reached today.
When we asked if there were anything extra she would like to share, she said, We love our work, and we are candid in our approach. We are not super humans but believe in hard work and timelines. My philosophy is to “believe in progress” and not holding on to things for ‘perfection’. We are go-getters. With a fantastic entrepreneurial journey of the self, we do believe in ‘stretching’ a little extra, only a little though.” Such are the candid yet concrete thoughts of Jigyasa Laroiya, the mind behind 30THFEB.
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