«Submitted by – Ruchika Bhat, Student @ Pearl Academy, Mumbai»
‘What’s Next’ is on everybody’s mind and our college has come up with this awe-inspiring concept of scratching the future to discover new trends and ideas that may be followed by many. While aspiring to become something, everybody has inspiration and to imagine that all the big names of the industry that you want to be a part of could be under one roof is extremely exciting but very nerve raking at the same time. Mr. Tikka Shatrujith Singh, king of luxury in India, the guest of honor for What’s Next – Winning Ideas in Creative Business
The topic was centered on creative design and luxury brands. With the crowd ready and the speakers in place the event started with Ms. Priya Mathew as the master of ceremonies; she introduced the panelists and invited them on stage. The discussion started with speakers, Mr. BS Nagesh, non-executive Vice Chairman at Shoppers Stop, Mr. Mahesh Murti, Managing Partner at seedfund and Mr. Biren Vaidya, Managing Director and Creative Soul at Rose group.
While speaking about ‘what’s next’ Mr. BS Nagesh’s words “This opportunity of What’s Next is very huge. It is a chance to create a product for the consumer.” Mr. Nagesh believes that women have a very important role in the retail industry and states that “anybody who has 50-60% women in their business will make a big difference to the retail world.”
Next up was Mr. Mahesh Murti who strongly believes that advertisement is a field that welcomes failure. He spoke about how in the new world ‘dominance and monopoly is arising’. ‘Design is creativity in constraints’ the notable truth.
As we proceeded, Mr. Vaidya’s elaborated his thoughts on working in luxury ‘I am not in the business of luxury, I am in the business of making women happy.’ Witty anecdotes drew laughter and cheer from a rapt audience while Mr. Vaidya went on with his ideas focusing on creative business.
The next set of speakers were then invited on stage which included Mr. Parveen Shaikh, Mr. Mukesh Gajra, Mr. Amit Sehgal, Mr. Neeraj Nagpal and Mr. Satish Gokhle . Ms. Parveen Shaikh said “luxury education earlier was restricted to a few people, but today luxury education will create high net worth individuals and that’s what future of India looks like”. Mukesh Gajra’s insights “Design IQ is inversely proportionate to market budget.” The discussion continued with the audience listening in closely.
To conclude, the panel was open to questions and that is when things got more interesting. When Mr. Murti was asked about advertising, his answer seemed to cause a few people to speak up, including Mr. Tikka who happily disagreed to Mr. Murti’s view. Everybody seemed to enjoy the show and with the final debate being humorous and exciting the event ended on a happy note leaving everybody geared up for ‘what’s next’.
