Saurabh Shroff, Founder-Consultant, Clearwater Consulting

Clearwater Consulting (http://clearwater.co.in), a marketing consulting firm set up to provide guidance and support for successful brand building and sustainable business development, works with clients to improve the aforementioned aspects, along with delivering effective brand-building strategies.

A young and dynamic ‘new age’ firm Clearwater Consulting is in touch with today’s customers, business values and technologies. This, along with the skills, know-how and experience in marketing and business management makes them unique and relevant in their approach.

“Clearwater is a newborn in the consulting industry and we are 30-somethings. This is unheard of in other consulting firms, which traditionally have consultants above 50 years of age and with 30 years of work experience,” says Shroff, who holds an MBA degree in international business and marketing from Griffith University, Australia. “To stand among them as a marketing expert at 31 is not only challenging, but also intimidating,” he admits.

Clearwater provides a range of business management services for effective planning, functional management and strategic reviews in the areas of marketing, communication and business development. Since its inception in June 2009, it has already helped more than five companies in various aspects and capacities, and is seeing steady growth of its client base. “Given the positive response that we continue to receive, we will soon be expanding our core consulting team,” Shroff said.

Working for more than 10 years in various capacities gave Shroff the experience needed to be an effective manager and creator of a value-based organisation. “There came a time for me to take my knowledge and put it to work. For me, it was a natural progression, like passing out from high school and entering college,” this entrepreneur says.

Shroff began Clearwater Consulting with his own money, though, he says, his is not a capital-intensive business. The company is in its growth phase, currently having three employees in two branches, one each in Mumbai and Dubai. “My aim is to establish Clearwater as a leading consulting firm with a strong base of satisfied customers, and create a platform for the second phase of development — expansion in India and globally,” Shroff says.

This entrepreneur’s ambitions are ably supported by the early acceptance Clearwater has got as a reliable partner for marketing management. “Our clients are happy with what we offer, and that is the best recognition,” he says.

Clearwater Consulting shares its thoughts and expertise in marketing and business management through its blog, seminars, social networks and a focused public relations strategy.

Shroff envisages Clearwater Consulting growing steadily, securing strong linkages with various industry sectors, partnering with forward-looking organisations and creating success stories out of clients’ businesses.

“We believe in increasing our base organically, thereby ensuring excellence in delivery and customer service. An initial mistake was in not expecting the unexpected, which I made with my previous start-up, a food and beverages company,” says Shroff, who lists among his achievements an award for the best case-study presentation on innovative marketing while pursuing his MBA degree. He was also recognised at his last job for coming up with a solution for problems the company was facing with regard to its China business.

According to Shroff, an entrepreneur requires a well-thought-of decision in order to pursue a long-term business objective. “Continuous creation of real value, regardless of the short-term impact, is the only sustainable business objective,” he says, a view seconded by yourstory.in.