Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder, One97 Communications limited

Lets Get Talking!

Mobile phones are a major part of our lives and Mobile Value Added Service companies offer mobile marketing to enhance their augmentation. One such company is One97 Communications limited. YourStory had a conversation with Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of One97 where he talked about his entrepreneurial yearning and his dream organisation.Tell us something about One97.

One97 Communications is India’s leading Mobile Value Added Service Company. One97’s Innovative mobile content, messaging, commerce services and made-to-order network applications offer new revenue streams to telecom operators. Working closely with service providers and enterprises, it offers customer lifecycle management and mobile marketing to enhance their profitability. Championing speed of delivery, One97 thrives on its widely deployed telecom applications service platform to deliver scalable, flexible and customized services. Funded by Intel Capital, SoftBank Asia Infrastructure Fund Partners and Silicon Valley Bank, One97 also invests and incubates new mobile technologies start-ups.

What is te basic idea behind One97?

Mobile phones are play a large role in our lives and a lot of what we do is moving to that screen. We want to part of this screen evolution – both from the network side and the consumer side.

What is your target audience?

One97 provides Network, Enterprise and Consumer application services. The customers include telecom companies, corporates, enterprise customers and general consumers. In terms of reach One97 reaches a very large percentage of the Indian telecom base.

What sets you apart?

The One97 business model is a pioneering model and has been adapted by the entire VAS industry. We are co-creators and co-investor in the telecom network infrastructure with telecom firms and work a lot on revenue share. This model has found great acceptance with telecom operators. This is what sets us apart.

Why entrepreneurship?

I knew it from the very begining. Very early on, I knew this was something that was an innate trait. And when One97 happened, I never felt like giving up because when you love what you do, you just do it the best you can, without worrying about other things.

What is in the future of One97?

We already represent a fair size in our industry with more than 700 employees and hope to bring out an IPO very soon.

Any moment of recognition?

We were Deloitte Fast 50 Growing company in 2009 and Voice and Data Company of the Year as well.

Do you have any tips for the budding entrepreneurs?

Building Scale and Building a Good team are the key challenges a entrepreneur faces today and I would like to advice the entrepreneurs to keep focus on the customer first, because your organisation depends entirely on them.

YourStory wishes Vijay Shekhar Sharma and One97 communications limited all the very best for their future.