Pradeep Karambelkar left his well-paying job in 2003 with a vision of selling financial products through a chain of one-stop investment outlets called ‘Investment Shoppe’ in malls. Ten years later, he is close to fulfilling that vision and expects to open two retail outlets each in Bhopal and Indore by March 2014.
Sharing the rationale behind this project, Pradeep says, “The idea is to provide an investment avenue to people wherein they can choose from the entire range of financial products. Just like Archies Gallery where people buy gifts for their family members or friends, Investment Shoppe will provide an opportunity to buy a child plan, health insurance etc. on birthday or any other special occasion. Generally, savvy investors do a lot of research before making investment decisions. We would help such investors in their research and product selection through our advisory team in outlets.”
Born in an affluent family in Damoh, a small town of Madhya Pradesh, Pradeep imbibed ethics and values from his father who was a high-court Judge. After completing LLB and MBA (Finance) from Barkatullah University Bhopal, he got his first assignment as a Manager Depository with Alankit in New Delhi in 1995. Three years later, he joined a software company as a General Manager. In 2003, he joined Escorts Mutual Fund in Bhopal.
While starting a business was something Pradeep had always wanted to do, he could not do so for the lack of a unique idea. He observed that many government officials including his father who had invested in mutual funds were finding it difficult to stay in touch with their distributors once they moved to another city. “People used to get frequent transfers in government jobs so they shifted very often and found it difficult to get their queries resolved. I explored how can I service such clients and thought of establishing a franchise model,” says Pradeep.
Sensing an opportunity and given that advisory business had no entry barrier in terms of capital requirements, he took up insurance agency and mutual fund distribution and floated Vision Advisory in 2004.
Initially, Pradeep found it very difficult to sell mutual funds as there was no awareness among people. However, his friend helped him to acquire his first client. He, then, decided to provide door to door services and adopted a cold calling strategy to acquire clients. Also, he started to educate people by organizing awareness camps in Bhopal and adjoining districts. Very soon, he built a good rapport and developed a strong client base.
In 2009, Pradeep decided to expand the scope of his services and product offerings. He also took up multiple insurance agencies through various individuals and became a sub broker with ICICI Securities to widen his product basket.
His next target was to expand his reach outside Bhopal. With the help of ICICI Securities, he opened a few branches in adjoining districts. He adopted a franchisee model through which he started offering facilities like training, online support, centralized back office, update etc. to local distributors. Now, he has 43 franchisees in MP and has recently opened a new office in New Delhi. He aims to expand his presence in 10 states within three years.
Pradeep has 8000 clients and manages asset under advisory of Rs 22 crore in mutual funds. Overall, he claims a client base of 20,000 and asset under advisory of Rs 50 crore across all investment products. He has a team size of 20 people.
His company publishes a monthly magazine called ‘Investment Avenues’ in Hindi and English and provides coaching to students for NISM modules. Pradeep is a member of FICCI, CII and Lions Club.