Three is company...!

There is a saying in English which goes by, two's is company, three's a crowd. But, some unusual coincidences made a bunch of three companions a Company. These three musketeers are Vivek Mishra, Mark Alexander and Tanay Bhivandiwala.

They make usual things unusual and different. They may not be highly experienced, but age is on their side. They are the perfect young entrepreneurs which India is in search of. They initiated a travel company called ‘Glotrip’. Here is the story of these youngsters’ business funda, their intentions behind starting this venture and much more….

Firstly, while talking with Vivek, co-founder and Marketing Manager of Glotrip, we realize that the seed of any business lies in a person’s capacity to identify the need of any product or service. In 2010, Mark came up with the idea of Tour management while completing his BMS in Wilson College. Vivek Mishra who is doing M.S. in Mumbai University and Tanay Bhivandiwala, a student of New Law College, joined him. They understood the need to organise and manage an Industrial visit efficiently for colleges and thus their brand new business started taking its shape.

Glotrip is still a new baby on the block compared to other big travel companies. It is hardly two years old. Hence, we can not observe any drastic changes or up-downs about it. But, it is in the process of improving.

Though the target audience of Glotrip is varied, their main focus is on students. As every other business company has its motto, Glotrip’s motto is to make students explore the world. ‘‘We intend to offer knowledgeable and entertaining tours to the students,’’ Vivek says.

‘Keeping marginal fees’ for students is their main funda about money. Vivek says, “College students have a certain limit beyond which they can not afford to pay for an Industrial Visit. As we are also students, we know the margin of that amount. Hence, we design our offerings accordingly.” At such initial stage of business, instead of keeping profits at high level, their focus is to construct a concrete identity in the market.

Raising initial capital was the main challenge for them. But three of them raised their own money and started it. Building up new contacts and corporate rapport were challenges as well. ‘‘It was a struggling period which every businessman has to face,’’ Vivek talks about their initial period of business.

Vivek tells about students’ preferences about IV. Now a days, students suggest where they want to go for industrial visits and we offer it at affordable prices. 

Every business is affected by many surrounding policies and inflation. Glotrip is not an exception. Government Policies, service tax affects their business. Inflation and rising prices of petrol and diesel increase total expenditure of tours. Maintaining balance between this expenditure and fees is the real challenge for these young entrepreneurs.

Vivek, Mark and Tanay have started their business in very young age. This young age itself is going to beneficial for their travel company. Let’s hope that we will soon get some good news about prosperity of Glotrip.