Enterprise: BUDSTA Analytics & Insights Pvt. Ltd.
Managing Director & CEO: Lester Fernandes
Industry: Professional Services
Year it was founded: 2018
Based out of: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Armed with a management degree from a leading business school in the United States and more than two decades of experience with large firms in solving complex business problems, Lester Fernandes launched his own business in early 2018. BUDSTA Analytics & Insights Pvt. Ltd. specialises in delivering actionable insights leveraging data science, analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning and also provides project management services.

In conversation with GlobalLinker (GL), Mr Lester Fernandes (LF) shares what motivated him to become an entrepreneur and his vision to grow the business.

GL: Mr Lester, having worked for two decades in the corporate world, what motivated you to start your own business?

LF: I have worked in and consulted for large corporations around the world and have always nurtured the desire to start something on my own. Graduating with an MBA from Babson College, the premier college for entrepreneurship in the USA, way back in 2004 only fuelled this ambition further. So, in February 2018, armed with my life savings and a strong desire to start something new and make a positive difference to the world around me, I plunged headlong into business as my full-time occupation. The automatic choice for my business idea was in the high-end IT Consulting Services as I have worked solving very interesting business problems and providing actionable insights for the last 20+ years. This venture is dedicated to Data Science, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning along with our core competencies of project and portfolio management.

There is never a good time to start your business. If you passionately believe that your business has potential value, go ahead and start it.

GL: How does one go about raising awareness about high end consulting services?

LF: Attending business networking meetings and utilising social media – particularly LinkedIn, Facebook, corporate websites has been very effective in generating interest around the business. Following up on initial queries typically leads to further discussions where you can usually help with additional professional services.

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GL: What is the biggest challenge for your business right now and how are you tackling it?

LF: Seed and venture funding for the business is the biggest challenge right now. We are looking to hire smarter people, expand marketing and sales to extend our business bookings on the back of business consulting and services partnership with public cloud providers. To tackle this problem, we are talking with like-minded venture capitalists, investors, corporates and even availing of subsidies and incubation offerings from the Indian government towards startups and MSMEs.

GL: You are a Linker. Which offerings of GlobalLinker have helped in your business growth?

LF: Contributing articles of interest on the platform and earning the ‘SME Expert’ badge, as well as intensive networking on GlobalLinker has resulted in soft selling opportunities for our business. Any areas of interest to other SMEs could also be of potential interest and importance to our startup – it helps to be in the know about latest happenings within the Indian startup space. Other SMEs could similarly use this easily accessible and free to use platform for attaining a host of benefits.

GL: What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur?

LF: There is never a good time to start your business. If you passionately believe that your business has potential value, go ahead and start it. Be open to learning from failure and pivoting to make sure that the business idea is always relevant to your stakeholders. All along, make sure that your family is open to the idea of hardship or ups and downs for 3-4 years and there is enough financial leeway to cover your dependents in the interim period.

GL: What is the next big thing for BUDSTA Analytics & Insights?

LF: Grow in partnership with the Public Cloud Players and keep building up a recurring pipeline of orders from our valuable customers and future prospects. Pivot around the latest technologies and keep refreshing our service offerings based on the latest digital trends.

Also read:  Dipankar Ghosh, Director, Disrupvation Digital Pvt Ltd

GL: We would love to know the person behind the entrepreneur.

• Every day you wake up at? 5:45 am or earlier
• The first thing you do when you wake up? After 15 minutes of freshening up, meditate to a timer for exactly 20 minutes. Warm up exercises/ yoga/ brisk walking till 6:40 am
• Three things you do to unwind/ relax are - Play/ talk with my kids or have ‘family bonding together’ time. Go swimming or for a brisk walk. Listen to music or read a book
• When you face a big challenge - I try to place the challenge to the universe and find some direction with my morning meditation routine. This usually leads to some steps to get additional information and find innovative ways to overcome the challenge
• The best piece of advice you’ve ever been given is -

Happiness is where you are and what you want to be;

If you look, you are sure to find the rainbow of your dreams;

Tomorrow’s fuller than a thousand yesterdays;

With the vision of a new day in your heart – Church Hymn

• The one book everyone should read is - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It taught me that what I am looking for in life and around the world may very well be around the corner!

Also read: V Arun Kumar, Director, Primark Garments

Network with Lester Fernandes by clicking on the 'Connect' button on his profile.

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