Rajeeb started his first venture aged 17, a social enterprise working to give school students a voice in their education. Initially this was known as the English Secondary Students’ Association (ESSA) and then became the Student Voice.
Further to this Rajeeb then set up his current business Enternships, a platform to connect startups and fast growing businesses to talent. This was never meant to be a business but was something he set up whilst running Oxford Entrepreneurs, a society for student entrepreneurs at Oxford University where he kept being approached by startups who wanted to advertise jobs to their members. Today they work with over 6000 employers and create talent solutions for corporate clients such as Havas, Telefonica and Santander.
Alongside running Enternships Rajeeb also Co-Founded StartUp Britain – the national campaign to promote entrepreneurship launched by the Prime Minister in 2011.
Why did you choose a career in marketing?
I actually didn’t see myself as “following a career in Marketing” however upon being accepted onto the Marketing Academy I reflected on my personal strengths and role as an entrepreneur. To me being an entrepreneur is about coming up with an idea and taking it to market – conveying what it’s about to potential employees, customers and stakeholders which effectively is ‘marketing.’ An entrepreneur needs to sell his/her vision just like a Marketer helps to sell a product/service.
I chose to be an entrepreneur because I like the ability to come up with a concept and see it come to life as well as the ability to make a positive difference in the lives of others through the ventures I set up.
What do you think makes a successful career in marketing?
Authenticity is the key in my mind for an entrepreneur as well as in marketing. So much of creating a business is telling the story both about yourself and your idea that it’s important to be true to yourself and for that to be conveyed in what you do in order for people to ‘buy into’ you and what you’re doing.
And who is a great example of this?
The entrepreneur who truly understands the value of marketing I’d say is Richard Branson. He has created an iconic brand around both his company Virgin as well as himself. I believe his personal branding is a huge part of the success of his businesses as he lives the Virgin brand values and is the ultimate brand ambassador. He has a keen eye for a marketing/PR opportunity and has done a great job in creating a strong umbrella brand under which hundreds of businesses have been launched.
What do you think are the main challenges facing marketers today?
The rise of social media and real-time feedback means that if a brand doesn’t live up to its promise it becomes very evident very soon. How you react to real-time feedback and ensure you constantly fulfil your brand promise becomes a key consideration for marketers.
How do you keep up with constant stream of innovation in marketing comms?
As an entrepreneur working in the tech space we have lots of tech clients and always try and stay ahead of the curve in adopting new technologies in what we do. As bizarre as it sounds we even downloaded the “Yo” app when it first launched to test it out for Enternships as a potential engagement channel (albeit a short lived experiment!) We will however continue to watch it as it develops as well as other interesting innovations.
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