Gaurav Bhagat, MD at Consortium Gifts Pvt Ltd

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?

Gaurav Bhagat: Consortium Gifts as a business started 22 years ago. At the time the organized corporate gifting industry in India was almost nonexistent. Much of the market share lay with retailer, wholesalers and plastic novelty manufacturers. The market was extremely fragmented and there was a lot of pain that corporates in India had to go through to find a reliable supplier. We came in with a commitment to excellence and also delivery exceptional product and services. Maruti was one of our first big wins in 1999 and not only the company but also the people that were part of the original client list are still our clients. A few years into the business we were already picking up some of the best contracts and clients and the rest as they say is history.

Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Consortium Gifts Pvt Ltd?

Gaurav Bhagat: While at its core Consortium Gifts is a corporate gifting and promotional products company. About 7 years ago we also started offering our key accounts online brand store services. In this domain we handle reward and recognition, employee retention, rewarding training and more. Consortium Gifts also has also tied up with renowned industrial designers like double red dot design winner Sandip Paul to create exclusive product lines which are not available with anyone else.

Great Companies: What makes Consortium Gifts Pvt Ltd different from hundreds of other corporate gifting firms?

Gaurav Bhagat:

What makes us unique is our Infrastructure, we have 8 offices in 6 cities and have an amazing team in addition to that as well. We are also the only Indian company that was selected to be a part of IGC Global Promotions, a gifting organisation that chooses only one member per country and does approximately 1 billion US$ of billing annually.

Apart from the above we stand out because of our culture, values, clients and relationships that we have nurtured over the past 22 years. We are also SEDEX 5 pillar approved and have all the necessary compliances required to be a company with global standards.

Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face?

Gaurav Bhagat: There have been challenges at different stages of the journey, in the early years it was access to capital and cash flows. In due course it became about finding the right people to carry us forward and keep up with the expected pace. We have worked really hard to preempt challenges and also address then when the red flags first come up. I think it helps that Gaurav, the founder is himself a sales and strategy coach and works with some of the most brilliant minds in the world. At the moment the challenges remain around scale, monitoring of remote teams and a few logistical hurdles that were brought upon by the pandemic. Nothing that can’t be handled.

Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Consortium Gifts Pvt Ltd?

Gaurav Bhagat: The future of Consortium Gifts is very bright indeed. We have some amazing clients and those contracts are now extending beyond India to becoming APAC wise contracts as well. Our vision is to become Asia’s largest corporate gifting company by 22nd Feb 2025 and to take Consortium Gifts to 7 countries and 13 cities and have 1000 happy employees. We have a very positive outlook and have been building systems, processes and teams to make this happen.

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

Gaurav Bhagat: I would say be solution focused. Take a look at the industry you service and see what problems are faced and then see if you have a possible solution. Cliched as it may sound the saying that the bigger the problem you solve the more money and impact you will have. Another piece if advice would be that stay customer focused. Keep your eyes and ears open and always be quick to adapt to the changing times.

Website : www.consortiumgifts.com

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/ConsortiumGifts/

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/consortiumgifts/