AGORA is an established brand and is in the business of retail chain into Brick & Mortar for consumer durables goods, into electrical, electronics, home appliances, kitchen appliance for wholesale. It is a part of the diversified conglomerate group and, managed by professional investment bankers from the field of finance. We are committed to the success of our customers & employees. Agora’s prime focus is to ensure that our customers are happy and effortlessly choose the right product from a wide variety of products available.
We are growing our wholesales, supply chain business in alliance with reputed brands in well-equipped, self-owned outlets with the state-of-the-art infrastructure. Further, we have been successful in gaining the trust of the customers as much as the manufacturers likewise. AGORA is proud about having developed markets for traders and helps generate employment for fresh graduates, empower women and also promote local economies.
In an exclusive interview with CEO INSIGHTS, Manoj talks in detail about his professional journey and how he has been able to develop Agora Imperium India, into a unique entity in the industry.
Can you tell us more about your educational background? Also, elaborate on your professional journey so far?
I come from a finance background and by profession, I am an investment banker. I have always been passionate about being an entrepreneur and I have worked for some big-name companies during my professional career holding the multiple position including being the Managing Director of Birla Homes. And CEO of Birla Lifestyle in Birla Group of Companies.
I have got over a decade of industry expertise in the corporate realm and when I setup our organization, my goal was to be a part of the nation building process. And I am a person who likes to run stable businesses that can be successful in the industry over longer periods of time. We have always strived to increase our operations at a pan India level and this approach of ours has helped us to constantly strive for consistent improvement. So, we have been constantly updating our
We are growing our wholesales, supply chain business in alliance with reputed brands in well-equipped, self-owned outlets with the state-of-the-art infrastructure. Further, we have been successful in gaining the trust of the customers as much as the manufacturers likewise. AGORA is proud about having developed markets for traders and helps generate employment for fresh graduates, empower women and also promote local economies.
In an exclusive interview with CEO INSIGHTS, Manoj talks in detail about his professional journey and how he has been able to develop Agora Imperium India, into a unique entity in the industry.
Can you tell us more about your educational background? Also, elaborate on your professional journey so far?
I come from a finance background and by profession, I am an investment banker. I have always been passionate about being an entrepreneur and I have worked for some big-name companies during my professional career holding the multiple position including being the Managing Director of Birla Homes. And CEO of Birla Lifestyle in Birla Group of Companies.
I have got over a decade of industry expertise in the corporate realm and when I setup our organization, my goal was to be a part of the nation building process. And I am a person who likes to run stable businesses that can be successful in the industry over longer periods of time. We have always strived to increase our operations at a pan India level and this approach of ours has helped us to constantly strive for consistent improvement. So, we have been constantly updating our
offerings and incorporating the latest technologies into our operations in order to expand our horizons.
We are highly enthusiastic about our business expansion for 2021 to add few more Agora Store in different locations. Since Inception, our vision is to expand the business vertical into furniture and interio segment to enter into turnkey project & Interio products, in year 2021, we are fully ready to set up the interio brand outlets to provide the end-to-end products to our customers.
What motivated you to be an entrepreneur? Also, what were the initial challenges that you faced?
There is always a new challenge in the industry and we as investment bankers work for our clients and help them in their growth. I see every challenge as an opportunity for us to show our skills and expertise. My thought behind setting up the AGORA – Your Supply Place is to be truly an Indian organization into Retail Brick & Mortar, our self-owned store is built with state of art infrastructure to enable the customers experience zone.
This was the vision for me from the beginning itself and throughout our journey, we have grown without any external funding and we are a debt free company too. We as company, our associated financial partners are offering the flexible EMI to support our customers to enhance their needs to buy the latest products.
Do you participate in any mentorship programs?
I constantly visit a number of B-schools and educational institutions contact me to spend time with their students. So, I interact with the
We are highly enthusiastic about our business expansion for 2021 to add few more Agora Store in different locations. Since Inception, our vision is to expand the business vertical into furniture and interio segment to enter into turnkey project & Interio products, in year 2021, we are fully ready to set up the interio brand outlets to provide the end-to-end products to our customers.
What motivated you to be an entrepreneur? Also, what were the initial challenges that you faced?
There is always a new challenge in the industry and we as investment bankers work for our clients and help them in their growth. I see every challenge as an opportunity for us to show our skills and expertise. My thought behind setting up the AGORA – Your Supply Place is to be truly an Indian organization into Retail Brick & Mortar, our self-owned store is built with state of art infrastructure to enable the customers experience zone.
My thought behind setting up the AGORA – Your Supply Place is to be truly an Indian organization into Retail Brick & Mortar, our self-owned store is built with state of art infrastructure to enable the customers experience zone
This was the vision for me from the beginning itself and throughout our journey, we have grown without any external funding and we are a debt free company too. We as company, our associated financial partners are offering the flexible EMI to support our customers to enhance their needs to buy the latest products.
Do you participate in any mentorship programs?
I constantly visit a number of B-schools and educational institutions contact me to spend time with their students. So, I interact with the
students and share my experience as an industrialist with them. I have the belief that, whatever knowledge I have, I have to give it back to the society so that it will be helpful for someone else.
How have you been able to achieve work life balance? Also, what would be your advice to upcoming entrepreneurs to help them run successful businesses?
A good business leader, will have allocated time both for his profession and his personal life. Personally, I make sure that, I spend value time with my family on a regular basis and I share the challenges that I face with them and they give me their sincere views which is really helpful.
As far as my advice is concerned, I keep reading a lot of books and I do a lot of management courses and this helps me to constantly update myself with the latest trends in the industry. As a leader, I always try to understand the needs of my panel and address their subjects. And then, it is also important to get the right people to do the job and even for startups regardless of their size, allocating the right work for the right employee is crucial.
Business leaders should also be able to understand where are the areas in which they can improve and understand the team dynamics within the organization. Another important thing that business entrepreneurs should do is that, if you are getting profit, then reinvest a part of that profit in the company itself which will help the company to grow on a consistent basis. Also, make sure that you create plans for your team to grow as well.
Manoj Singh, Founder & CEO, AGORA – Your Supply Place
Manoj Singh is a visionary industrialist and a dynamic leader with an extensive experience in the Manufacturing, Retail Chain, Banking &financial industry. He has expertise in Investment Banking, Private Equity, M&A, Brand Alliances and Structured Lending. As the Chief Executive Office – CEO, in addition to maintaining responsibility of the company’s leadership position, Mr Singh is responsible for Corporate functions including Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Corporate Communications, Strategic Procurement, Information Systems, Investments, Customer forum, and Assurance.
How have you been able to achieve work life balance? Also, what would be your advice to upcoming entrepreneurs to help them run successful businesses?
A good business leader, will have allocated time both for his profession and his personal life. Personally, I make sure that, I spend value time with my family on a regular basis and I share the challenges that I face with them and they give me their sincere views which is really helpful.
As far as my advice is concerned, I keep reading a lot of books and I do a lot of management courses and this helps me to constantly update myself with the latest trends in the industry. As a leader, I always try to understand the needs of my panel and address their subjects. And then, it is also important to get the right people to do the job and even for startups regardless of their size, allocating the right work for the right employee is crucial.
Business leaders should also be able to understand where are the areas in which they can improve and understand the team dynamics within the organization. Another important thing that business entrepreneurs should do is that, if you are getting profit, then reinvest a part of that profit in the company itself which will help the company to grow on a consistent basis. Also, make sure that you create plans for your team to grow as well.
Manoj Singh, Founder & CEO, AGORA – Your Supply Place
Manoj Singh is a visionary industrialist and a dynamic leader with an extensive experience in the Manufacturing, Retail Chain, Banking &financial industry. He has expertise in Investment Banking, Private Equity, M&A, Brand Alliances and Structured Lending. As the Chief Executive Office – CEO, in addition to maintaining responsibility of the company’s leadership position, Mr Singh is responsible for Corporate functions including Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Corporate Communications, Strategic Procurement, Information Systems, Investments, Customer forum, and Assurance.