Enterprise: Elenchus HR Solutions
Founder-CEO: Debashish Das

Industry: Business Services & Consultancy 
Year it was founded: 2011
Location: Gurgaon, India

‘Elenchus’ a Greek word, defines the questioning method used by the great philosophers Socrates and Aristotle and subsequently passed on to Alexander, who went on to conquer more than half the world.

It’s no coincidence that Gurgaon-based entrepreneur Debashish Das’ business consultancy and HR firm is called Elenchus HR Solutions. Debashish firmly believes that a mindset of seeking, exploration and discovery leads to growth for organisations. And this approach to ask questions is fundamental to his consultancy firm.

From a Professional to an Entrepreneur 

At the peak of his corporate career, with over 24 years of professional experience, Debashish decided to take the entrepreneurial plunge and start his venture. His was one of the first companies to offer Transformational HR Outsourcing (THRO) to the corporates and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). As a few years passed, he observed that his clients needed help in business growth, besides and beyond HR, so he started to offer business growth consulting services. In 2015, he launched his second brand 'Elenchus Consulting' to address the needs of SME owners for business growth consulting.

Motivation to become an Entrepreneur

Ask Debashish his motivation to become an entrepreneur and he promptly responds, “One of my most significant influences was my father. Even at the age of 80, he continued to work, and I admired his ability to work so hard.” Moreover, Debashish is a firm believer in the concept of "Human Revolution" - the idea that the inner transformation of an individual will cause a positive change in one's circumstances and ultimately in society. This belief in his abilities convinced him that he could act as a catalyst and game changer for other businesses.

Business USP

Debashish’s unique business model inspired trust from the very beginning. He shares, “I still remember my first client paying an advance for my services, and we did great work. The fact that we were offering a novelty model back really paid off. We always have focused on future growth in transformational HR, such as helping to create employer branding to attract talent, retain them, build capability, policies, culture, etc. which will build an organisation and add value. We have helped over 100 organisations in various sectors such as IT, Telecom, Digital Media, Advertising, Automobile, Advertising, Retail, Manufacturing, eCommerce, Hospitality, Education, Consumer Durables, PSUs etc” 

Personally and professionally the lockdown has been perhaps a very productive time for me where I have been able to reach to many business owners. 

Challenges to grow bigger, better and faster 

“We face the challenge of educating SMEs on services we have to offer at Elenchus HR Solutions,” opines Das. He adds, “Another challenge we face that we would like to overcome through technology is that most SME owners have limited direction from the MSME Ministry. For this, I make it a point to regularly influence key policymakers who have more access to the MSME Ministry than me to take my message and create policies which will shape up a very progressive environment for SMEs.”

Debashish enthusiastically shares his expansion goal, “The next big thing is to go global. My mission is to coach and creates at least one SME organisation to a billion-dollar enterprise.”

COVID: A Paradigm shift

In Mar 2020 when the COVID crisis broke out in India, Debashish was quick to talk on the subject to business owners on his YouTube channel. Das shares “I have been engaging with business owners through my video link 'DD speaks' on YouTube where I have been talking to the business owners on various aspects of the business to help them. I also conducted various webinars through Facebook live for business owners to help them get clarity and perspective on survival, recovery and growth in business.

He adds, “I have been doing webinars and regularly writing to share inputs on various aspects of the business. Personally and professionally, this has been perhaps a very productive time for me, where I have been able to reach out to many business owners. Technology has been a great enabler to ensure scale and reach. One of the paradigm shift we embraced was to convert this adversity into opportunity by adopting and adapting to technology instantly the moment lockdown started rather than wait and watch.”

The GlobalLinker Advantage

Das shares, “GlobalLinker has given me a voice with over 300,000 SMEs, were I can reach out to more and more SMEs about our services and has further led us to grow our network in the comfort of our office and home.”

Advice to upcoming Entrepreneurs 

“In these unprecedented times it is important to have fun and be patient,” advises Das. “Apna time aayega (my time will come) is the right spirit to have, be at it, continue to have faith in yourself, keep your chin up always, be in top spirit and continue to do good work, times change and change fast. Enjoy even your failures and move on,” he adds.

A glimpse of the person behind the Entrepreneur

• Every day I wake up at – 6:30 a.m.
• The first thing I do when I wake up - Have a bottle full of water and look at the rising sun.
• Things I do to unwind - Play football every weekend, yoga, listen to music.
• When I face a big challenge - I stay calm, prepare to face it and find a solution to it, I always look forward to challenges as opportunities to learn and grow, never to lament and be in despair.
• The best piece of advice I have ever been given – If nothing has happened, anything can happen.
• A book every entrepreneur should read – ‘Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done’ by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan.

Network with Debashish Das by clicking on the 'Connect' button on his profile.

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