During her stint as a Brand Manager at the beginning of her career, Sowmya Keshava used to take-up unpaid gigs to help her friends setup their startups by either helping them curate their business ideas, helping them write end-to-end business value propositions or suggesting ideas on gaining more traction for their businesses. Though she did it purely for learning and gaining experiences in various fields, Sowmya's curious and inquisitive nature helped her gain exposure and insights into various domains and businesses. Sowmya converted her passion into a career in 2013, and she started The Mustard Tree, a consulting firm which built marketing and business strategies for the companies across sectors. Currently, Sowmya runs Nilah Advisors, a Boutique advisory and consulting firm based in Bangalore. Sowmya's rich and diverse experience working for companies such as Kalaari Capital, Kyron Global, Zynga India, Ogilvy, and so on, has come in handy for her to be one of the most sought-after business advisors in the country for both foreign and Indian companies. Sowmya also currently serves as India Partner for a S. Korean VC firm heading their growth stage investments in India.

Sowmya engages in an exclusive interaction with Women Entrepreneur magazine.

GIVE US A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF NILAH ADVISORS. HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM ITS COMPETITORS?

As a boutique advisory and consulting firm which specializes in cross-borderacceleration, Nilah Advisors supports startups with fundraising from Indian and global investors, executive coaching, advising specifically on business aspects & international expansion, marketing & growth strategy, and government supported global accelerator programs. Recently, we have also started supporting in hiring Exec talent for niche roles for a few foreign clients. Since a strong working relationship with the VC ecosystem is also a must, we are privileged to be working with marquee investors in these regions for co-investing in Indian startups, as well as with innovative tech ideas in the South-East Asian markets, and helping them enter India for business expansion & growth.

Understanding the nuances and culture of a country is non-trivial. Success of a startup depends on how well you are able to localize and sell the product & offerings, and Nilah Advisors exactly helps you do that. We want to become a one-stop advisory firm for all the needs of a company, startup, or even a government entity.

Commencing as a primary focus on the South Korean startup & VC ecosystem, we have already started catering to requests from Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, and so on. The cross-border accelerator program is a win-win because it generates revenues for our country’s economy, brings great products & services to Indian consumers, and opens-up our world view to new technologies & working systems. We are also exploring opportunities to work with the government and policymakers to help them with their existing initiatives for encouraging entrepreneurship in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST PRESSING BUSINESS CHALLENGES THAT YOU FACE IN YOUR CURRENT ROLE AND HOW DO YOU MITIGATE THESE CHALLENGES?

With an ever-changing competitive landscape, we have to keep ourselves abreast with the latest trends in terms of technology, industry, and local regulations, and that has been a constant challenge for us. Since we work with startups from different parts of the world, the founders come with different cultural backgrounds and communication styles. Having the patience to adjust and be on the same page with the founders is extremely crucial for our business.

When it comes to executive coaching, it is a long-term process and commitment to help foundersunleash their real potential and make them understand their blind spots. For this process to be efficient, the founders need to have an open mind to accept what they don’t know or be ready to take help. To mitigate this process, I would say, advising starts with a trust-building exercise before we start working on executing something more meaningful. Empathy and understanding the sense of urgency help us to calibrate the expectations of the client from us as a team, and we take every possible step to ensure the effectiveness of our delivery.

IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES THAT YOU HAVE ACHIEVED IN YOUR PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY?

I have been planning my career in such a way that I stay relevant and make meaningful contributions across emerging areas and industries such as venture capital, consulting, gaming, advertising, EduTech, and so on. My biggest leap of faith was when I decided to quit my job at Zynga Game Network India in 2012, and support about eight startups as well as portfolio companies of a few top VC firms in India.

My first consulting firm, The Mustard Tree, focused on marketing and business consulting for primarily early-stage companies. In between my first firm and my second one, I went back to the corporate world and worked for top VCs & accelerators, and led India for a short-form content & video editing platform before deciding to start Nilah Advisors. This is my second stint as an entrepreneur. All these aspects are some of the significant milestones for me in my career.

"Startups have different needs based on the stage of the life cycle and we at nilah advisors understand and empathize this which helps us to be trusted strategic advisors to all our partners."

WHAT IS YOUR SUCCESS MANTRA, AND WHAT DRIVES YOU TODAY AS AN ENTREPRENEUR?

Perseverance and never say die attitude is my mantra for my personal growth. The constant notion to re-evaluate my career growth has helped me to evolve from my role as a brand manager to lead cross-border investments and accelerator programs with national governments. Since my early days, I have had an appetite for learning new things. It is a trait that I still treasure because it has helped me start new ventures, skills, and programs. Being in a happy space at present doesn’t mean things have been easy for me. I hit roadblocks now and then, but I pick myself up, dust it off, and begin again.

WHAT IS THE FUTURE ROADMAP YOU HAVE ENVISIONED FOR YOURSELF?

I would like to give back to the community, as it also helps me to grow and learn constantly. Helping and supporting women entrepreneurs, especially in the technology space is something I would like to dedicate my time to. This cause is close to my heart, and I take-out time to mentor & guide startups founded by women, helping them structure their ideas and taking them to market.

We started the Campus Engagement Program in April 2022 that helps Student communities across the country have access to foreign companies & startups as part of the Student-industry connect initiative. This is one way of giving back to the ecosystem in helping create market-ready future employees and also encouraging Entrepreneurship amongst the young promising minds.

We also launched a proprietary event called Sahayog 2022, a India-Korea startup and VC connect series which intends to give a sneak peek into the emerging sectors and startups of both the ecosystems. This connect series helps showcase promising startups to the VC communities backed by the insights and data from the sectors which would give the confidence to the VCs to invest. We have conducted two seminars already in the last one month alone and plan to host one at least every quarter.

Sowmya Keshava, Founder & CEO, Nilah Advisors

A Black Belt in Six Sigma, Sowmya has accomplished her education from Bangalore. After completing her B.Sc. (Computer Science & Statistics) and PGDBM (Business Management) from Mount Carmel College, Sowmya went ahead to have an MBA in Marketing from CMR Institute of Management Studies. Apart from being featured in Hello! India Magazine as Top Women Achievers and Change Makers of March 2022 edition, she has also been acknowledged by C. Krishniah Chetty Group ‘Gem of a Women’ and featured on the calendar of 2022.