Responsible for improving the business operations of the organizations, Strategy officers often play a pragmatic role in leading and achieving the long-term vision of a company. Starting from crafting creative business ideas to reviewing data for monitoring progress across their business initiatives, Strategy Officers remain the unsung heroes of the corporate sector who work closely with the top executives to lead organizations proactively. Justifying the above-mentioned traits as one of the trailblazing strategy officers of the present era, Stuti Gaekwad is leading client-facing functions including Sales & Marketing as well as client management across all the business lines of her current organization Radical Minds.

Before joining Radical Minds, Stuti worked with NIIT Technologies & Astra Business Services where she handled multiple portfolios/ departments pertaining to Operations, Customer Services, Credit & Collection, and Sales Portfolio. She also handled major clients like Collect America, HSBC, Financial Control Services, Central Credit Services, Data Locator Group, and more, which further broadened her expertise as a CSO. Leveraging her expertise from her previous expeditions, Stuti is not only creating a culture of business development, providing executive leadership for Radical Minds’ corporate strategy, but also ensuring the company’s overall business growth through organic means. Stuti engages in an exclusive interaction with the Women Entrepreneurs Magazine.

Give Us A Brief Overview Of Radical Minds & Its Distinctiveness That Makes It Stand Ahead Of Its Competitors.

Radical Minds is a team of innovative, customer-centric and proud professionals providing high-quality, value-based services to our clients in our chosen sphere of activity. Our success is achieved by imbibing care as well as honesty in thoughts, words, and actions while working in collaboration with all the relevant stakeholders such as employees, customers, and communities. As an organization, we believe in pursuing our mission with passion, excellence, sincerity, and fun which makes us proud of ourselves.

Reflect On Your Expertise And The Role You Have Been Playing Within The Organization To Lead It To Greater Heights?

Equipped with more than 21 years of experience in Operations & Business Development, I have a hands-on approach to diagnosing client’s needs and negotiating outsourcing contracts for IT Infrastructure, Business Process Outsourcing services, Client Services & Project Management. Often referred to as a strong-headed leader by my colleagues, I play a major role in HR, Training, Operation and Business Development to keep the smooth flow of business and achieve growth multifold year by year. I have also developed the process of Training & Development of Soft Skills as well as Gauging People through Pre-Process Training, Process Training, Refresher Training, On Job Training, Off-Site Training, Train the Trainer Model, and Audit the Auditor Models.

What Are Some Of The Most Pressing Challenges That You Face In Your Role As The CSO? How Do You Successfully Overcome Them?

When I joined Radical Minds in 2011, the company was very small with Just five Employees Team. As the core founding team member of the company, I joined the company as the Business Development Manager (BDM), before rising to the position of COO in the company. Currently positioned as the Chief Strategy Officer, I have developed the team from five to 5500 employee strength in my tenure under my leadership.

"Playing a vital role in Employee engagement While organizing Periodic training and Development programs, Quarterly rewards & Recognition programs And so on and, i extend My support to each Employee who is facing Any challenge in the Company"

Starting my journey as the Business Development Manager (BDM), I focused on international business and developed clients from the UK, US and Australia under my leadership. In the very first year with the company, I have developed eight International Clients and renovated brands like ‘Click Techies’ and ‘PlanMyRoute.com’ for US as well as Canada. I have onboarded ‘Times of India’ as the major client in 2013, leading Indian Travel Client GoIbibo, 2015, and Zomato in 2016. With a majority of our clients from Travel, Logistics, Food Delivery, BFSI, Health & Wellness & Telecom, some of our prolific clients include Zomato, Swiggy, Vistara Airlines, Qatar Airways, PayTM, MakeMyTrip, VLCC, Bajaj Capital, Kaya Clinic, Cigna TTK Health Insurance, GoIbibo, Dr. Lal Path Labs, Ola, Fortis, 1MG, IXIGO, and so on. Playing a vital role in employee engagement while organizing periodic training and development programs, quarterly Rewards & Recognition programs and so on, and i extend my support to each employee who is facing any challenge in the company.

Drawing From Your Experience As A Business Leader, What Would Your Advice Be To Young Women & Girls Who Also Aspire To Become Business Leaders And Entrepreneurs In The Future?

My advice to young women & girls would be - Be bold. Trust yourself and don’t let the fear of failure or outside noise ever stop you from taking a chance at trying something different. If you think someone else has it all figured out, chances are that they are still figuring it out just as yoo. Eventually, it will all turn out to be OK. While I have always a planner & very responsible with my choices, I have learned there is much more in life that I cannot control and letting go can create more opportunities. Now and often, I like to remind myself to make intentional choices, to live confidently, boldly & unapologetically.

Stuti Gaekwad, CSO, Radical Minds Technologies

Stuti holds a Bachelor’s & Master’s degree and has relevant professional certifications like FDCPA & ISO:27001. She is currently positioned as a CSO at Radical Minds Technologies, a company known for its premium offerings across the Business Segmentation, BPO services (Domestic & International) and Technology Support. For her impeccable contribution to the industry as a strategy officer, she has been awarded with ‘Business Women Leader of the Organization Award’ in Women Empowerment Summit, and ‘GIWL Awards’ 2019.