There are some people in the world who are born to be entrepreneurs. The ability to lead people fortunately is in actually their mindset. At a very young age they realize and identify their talent and implement the ideas accordingly. The thinking of owning a football club at a teenage is indeed appreciable, but taking that football club to a successful global event management company is unimaginable and beyond our thinking. Two brothers, Dheeraj & Vikram have achieved this unimaginable thing in real life. Sphinx Adonis Events Pvt. Ltd. is one such Events & Entertainment Company which started as a football club and today it is strongly leading the event management industry with global presence.
The Unpredictable Journey of Sphinx
It all started around two decades ago. The die-hard football fans, both the brothers Dheeraj & Vikram owned a football club back in 1994 and the name Sphinx has been derived from the same club i.e. ‘Sphinx Football Club’. Post school, while they played for Maharashtra State, their immense love and dedication for the game was their motivation to start their own club under the PDFA, which in its maiden year progressed to the Second Division League. Owning a club without financial resources was a big challenge, and to fund their initiative, Dheeraj & Vikram planned a fundraising event by organizing an Inter Collegiate Fashion and Dance competition. And it clicked! The club raised funds and the brothers got an avenue for business.
As the event management industry is growing rapidly, it is important to create a niche. One of the company’s main clients, who is global motorcycle manufacturer once quoted ‘To specialize one needs to sacrifice’. In 2003, Sphinx was renamed to ‘Sphinx Adonis Events (P) Ltd’ and sacrificed the business of promotions, activation, Bollywood promotions, IP properties, Lifestyle events and started focusing on managing factory inauguration events, LG Electronics being its very first client.
A few years later – the same client, during their annual AGM mentioned to the shareholders that ‘Specialisation is the key to globalization’ – this stands true for Sphinx as being specialists of managing factory inauguration events. Sphinx has created a global footprint with the brand “EVENTWALA” with setting up wholly owned subsidiaries in Dubai for Middle East & Africa, Singapore for Asean and Sri Lanka for neighboring countries.
Eventwala will work in the emerging markets of Middle East & Africa, neighboring countries of Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. Sphinx’s key strategic priority is Global Growth and they continue to expand the Eventwala reach and expect that it will contribute 60% of their revenues. The company’s motto being ‘Go Global – Act Local’ makes them a true Indian multinational company in the event management domain.
Responsibilities & Technical Expertise
Every event needs superior planning and timely delivery of elements as required. These days event management companies are expected to provide complete turnkey solutions to the clients. From initial planning, to vendor resourcing, creative layouts, to project planning and implementation of the proposed plans is expected to be delivered by Sphinx.
Eventwala has global resourcing platform which enables sourcing of the best available technologies from various parts of the world. With over 200 inaugurations to the company’s credit, consultancy to deliver the complex project is the biggest value that Eventwala puts on table for a client.
The Two Master Blasters
The born entrepreneurs and master blasters, Dheeraj & Vikram played football for the state and national level tournaments. The bind attachment for sports led them to start their own football club and thereafter the fund raising event for the club became the avenue for their business. Right from the school days, they are known as the ‘Waghray Brothers’. Today, Dheeraj Waghray is the Co-Founder and Managing Director & Vikram Waghray is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sphinx Adonis Events & Eventwala.
The Waghray Brothers believe in owner involvement in day to day business. This ensures effective planning and superior delivery of complex events. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, the brothers ensure that every project is meticulously planned and are involved in guiding their enthusiastic team to a successful implementation of the project.
The roles & responsibilities of the brothers are also well defined. Dheeraj looks after emerging markets, setting up global footprint and planning for future, whereas Vikram leads the delivery model, ensuring existing client satisfaction and strengthening the local presence in global markets. The only job that Dheeraj & Vikram have done all their life is to manage events.
The Most Successful Event Hosted by Sphinx
Sphinx was entrusted with managing the ‘hi profile’ event of “Inauguration of GE’s Multi Nodal facility” at the hands of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. This event was under the Make in India initiative of the Prime Minister’s Office and probably the first private factory inauguration by the PM.
With an extensive planning and working that went over few months – the challenge was to start the setup and deliver the event within 12 days. With PMs final date confirmation coming just 2 weeks prior, Sphinx started working at the GE factory site the same night and handed over the entire setup to the SPG, 2 days early. Managing a world class air conditioned tent set up along with sophisticated equipment of audio and video, adhering to the very high safety standards of GE and security protocols of the PM, this event was a challenging task for the company.
Sphinx’s specialization in this line of work, the expertise & experience of their dedicated work force ensured World class delivery of this prestigious event – to the extent of satisfaction that the SPG termed this event experience as the top 3 events hosted for PM till date.
A One-Stop Solution for Clients
Event management industry is fast growing and has many reputed and recognized players and unorganized as well. Since entry parameters to this business are not based on technical or financial criteria – there is a lot of clutter with the bouquet of services that any agency offers under the event management scope. Today, clients demand specialists to cater to their requirements and Sphinx has benefitted with the specialization they have taken up for over 12 years.
Sphinx’s specialization in a very niche sector makes them the unique player in this competitive industry. Also, the company is able to be a one stop solution for their clients on a global level. The company’s ability to provide this specialized service at any location worldwide with adherence to the corporate philosophy and adapting to the local cultural values makes them a solitary service provider.
Briskly Blowing Challenges
The challenges faced by Sphinx are Procurement & Manpower. Short-listing vendors, finalizing cost parameters, fixing rate contracts in the different markets around the world has been a challenging task for their procurement teams.
“The prices per item have such large variation due to local constraints and regulations that it becomes impossible to make a benchmark and compare. Every market needs to be looked at differently keeping the working patterns, labor availability and issues in mind”, asserts the Waghray brothers.
Another challenge according to Sphinx is to retain employees. After giving the employees global exposure, constant training, equipping them with the skills to maneuver in difficult and emerging markets it’s very important to retain them to be able to grow the organization to the next level. Sphinx gives their best to ensure work life balance for their employees. Ensuring special attention to ones who matter, the company sends them for an international family holiday once in a year in order to keep the family involved and let them know that the organization cares.
Sphinx’s Strengths & Future Vision
Sphinx’s greatest strength is their people and their team structure. They are lean and that helps them expand to areas as they desire to without adding too much of operating costs. Also their ability to adapt to local cultures where they operate in , be it Saudi Arabia in the middle east or Thailand in Asean region, it helps them to offer localized services to the customers.
Employee training is important for alignment to the company’s growth and vision. The bi-annual offsite meets held in countries like Thailand, Dubai, Sri Lanka and regional meets every quarter helps the team-bond go widen and together.
The company’s HR policies are different and flexible. There is no defined time for coming to office, employees can take leaves as per their requirement without any pay cuts, and the company takes care of all F&B requirements from the time the employee arrives to work till day ends. Regular health checkups and adequate insurance policies are a part of the employee welfare benefits offered by the company.
Going Global with Brand Eventwala
With localized deliveries to the clients in countries like Saudi, Dubai & Kuwait in Middle East, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia in ASEAN region, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka in neighboring countries, Eventwala has been able to showcase the commitment and delivery standards of Indian event services.
Sphinx believes that ‘there will be soon a time when event managed by an Indian company will be the global standards of delivery in the events industry’. They say, “The ability of an Indian company to manage the last minute changes, on spot decisions, courage to take up multi tasks, guts to deliver the impossible, ability to deliver 24 x 7, adapt to rapidly developing technologies, makes us a preferred event partner in global markets.”
The company is ready to provide efficient services to the Indian multinational companies across 6 continents and sooner Eventwala will have a service model where any Indian event company can deliver events in global locations using their platform. Eventwala has also forged partnerships with local agencies, large infra vendors and also created its own offices. It’s a mix of company owned offices and network partners helping Sphinx to have a global footprint. This indeed is Sphinx’s biggest offering to the global customers.
Sphinx Adonis Events: The Journey from a Football Club to a Successful GLOBAL services brand – “EVENTWALA”
