At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring some of the meaningful and powerful stories from around the world to empower and motivate our growing community of entrepreneurs, influencers, management students and aspiring individuals. This week, we invited Canute Fernandes for an exclusive interview to know more about his inspiring journey and the way forward. He is the Co-founder and Director of Maveristic. Let’s learn more about his interesting journey and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with him:
Talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I completed my schooling from Fatima High School, Ambernath, and pursued my graduation in Commerce from NES Ratnam College of Arts, Commerce, and Science. After exploring my career in the HR domain, I went ahead and completed my PG in HR & Finance from IBS Mumbai, Powai, and later my SAP Certification from Lithan Genovate. At this point, I am still upgrading myself and have added Python and AWS Solutions Architect certification to my credentials.
I have always been a sports enthusiast and been part of the Hockey and Football team during my school days.”
After my schooling, I was not able to continue with my sports but I soon found a spot for myself to keep my anxiety at par and participated in dance competitions. I was just perfect to fit in any dance group, not an exceptional one though. Currently, I am a proud Devil Slayer and a CrossFit participant. I have participated in the Devils Circuit and CrossFit Open for 3 consequential years and more to come. Sports always has been my thing and 303 CrossFit Drive has been a major contributor. It has helped me to focus on my career and entrepreneurial journey.
About my journey as an entrepreneur, I have always been passionate about automating processes and building enhancement tools. In these 5+ years of my employment, I have been an HR & IT specialist and developed several automated excel based tools. Done several projects and worked on SAP, SAP SF, Oracle, Oracle Fusion to name a few.
The recent journey has been named Maveristic – Be Valuable, Not Available.
Maveristic is all about process automation and enhancement, implementation, and software testing. Every process in an organization will need to enhance at some point in time and not necessarily would it need a software or an application. This is where I am saying I will bring in a process that will help save up to 40% of manhours.”
The automation service that I provide is both online and offline wherein, I have developed a fully functional HRIS Suite as well as a PDF Mailer both on the Google platform. It is user friendly and the most cost-efficient way to manage your operations.
Also, if one is in the process of implementing a product or a system, one will always need a functional consultant who will be on their team to have a better understanding of the system nuances. Maveristic will take responsibility for the entire implementation and let you focus on your business and routine job. Many-a-times a client would also need assistance to take care of only the UAT (User Acceptance Testing) which is where Maveristic would take charge and do robust testing of the implementation or a product that one has developed. I believe that input from a 3rd person or a party is always more impactful to help identify and enhance an existing product or process to have a better operational process.
Maverisitc is not only catering as an HR & IT expert but it has also developed a job portal that is a free usage platform to help job seekers and recruiters. It also has it’s own events platform that is accessible to everyone.
Why entrepreneurship over a corporate career?
It was more about following my dream. I never read anything about anyone’s success stories. It was all about my thirst and hunger to do something new. I needed a lot of courage to take this step and to prove that I meant business. Many look forward to working with me and this gives me an edge to go that extra mile. Yes, I have earned my respect and recognition in my corporate career and now it was time to use all my skills and expertise to do something different. It had to be done from scratch which was my barrier, but the support from my family members let me overcome it and today I am much more confident and I know I can grow and help others grow. The primary reason for me to keep going is my son Alister, he is looking up to me and I want to be a role model to him like my father has been to me.
There have been a few role models apart from my dad who has helped me grow and strive for more. Mr. Prasad Chudji, Mr. Rajendra Khodake, Mr. Kailash Said, Mr. Milind Dhanmeher, Mr. Tapasvi Naik, Mr. Shaiju Philips, Mr. Chandan Mukhopadhyay, Mr. Sanjiv Patankar, Mr. Nidish Thomas, Mrs. Ruchika Doad, Mr. Sreerag Nair, Mr. Sourav Patro, Mr. Govind Sharma, and Mrs. MinakshiHajela. All of these individuals extended their support and have helped me see things differently and evolve to what I am today.
There is a secret behind this courageous move though, I have been planning to follow my dream for the past 3 years but never dared to get things going. In my last assignment, I came across a set of brothers who have been striving to grow their business as well as taking care of their employees. It was then that I took this step and I kept them as an example to question myself that if they can then I can too. The Kakadia brothers i.e Sanjay and Hasmukh of Sheetal Jewelleryhouse LLP.
How is your service different from traditional services? Tell us more about your service and your startup’s journey this far?
My service focuses on closing the gap between an end-user and an IT Vendor. My expertise helps me identify what is the issue just by looking at the error and likewise give a solution to the problem. It has been almost half a year now that I have begun the Maveristic journey, it has been smooth in terms of development but challenging to generate a decent business. I would not say I didn’t manage to crack a few deals but this pandemic has kept things on waiting for the time being. I am glad as I have also managed to do a few upgrades to my existing developments and will be value-adding post the lock-down period.
Please share with us some of the challenges you faced in your journey;
Being a sole-proprietor my biggest challenge is to focus on everything. I can’t practically be an all-rounder, however, this challenge has also helped me build many skills.
Another barrier is to understand the marketing etiquette as I am a complete alien to the world of marketing and sales.
Thankfully my family has always been supportive and given me all the encouragement possible to help me focus on my journey, however, as parents and a spouse, they would always prefer me to have a secure life with a stable income.
What is your Business Mantra: Money or Emotions?
For me, it would be ethics followed by integrity. Being an HR personnel I have developed my emotional intelligence and quite confident to deal with people. If my business has these 3 aspects I am sure money will be the fourth to follow my trail eventually.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
Trying to run a show will always be stressful. Yes, it has been the most tiring journey for me so far, I will not deny it. But I don’t see this as a pain area because it was me who has taken this decision and when you are living your dream irrespective of the stress and trouble you will always love the journey.
For the first time, I am enjoying the work and efforts I am putting in being a sole contributor to everything I do. Thankfully, I am high on self-motivation, and don’t let the circumstances get on me. If I do come across something like this I simply put away all my work for a few days and then back to it.
What has worked well for you so far?
The journey so far has been learning in many ways. Everything has been smooth and completed respectively. Now my only focus in on getting my services recognized and focusing purely on marketing. My developments have been successful and are ready to be explored and implemented. I would say it has been brilliant so far and there is much more to achieve.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
I am yet to be a seasoned entrepreneur to describe success, but I surely know one thing for a fact, that if one decides to go on this path, one must go all out. The success I have tasted in these couple of months is that I have come across a few people who have recognized my brand Maveristic.
What I also believe is –
“Rule your mind, and your body will do everything you want it to do…”
We would love to know your advice for all those starting as an aspiring entrepreneur?
You have to be mentally prepared for the worst and believe in yourself. It takes time to fly but once it takes off the sky is the limit. You know your plan better than anyone and should not be affected by any external hindrances. Don’t give up on your dream and don’t let it shatter.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
