Mr. Amit Nigam is somebody whose practical take on things is exceptional and he is someone who is always willing to go the extra mile to create a difference. He totally falls in range of the famous words by Vince Lombardi – “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will”. Mr. Nigam has over 17 years of experience in handling major business operations along with Green Field Projects. He is also an expert in operations and strategy, and is currently heading the global Emerging Mobility market for Spice Digital.
A graduate from the Allahbad University, Mr. Nigam joined IIP M in the year 1991, and got his first break with an Aditya Birla Group company. After a span of a couple of years, he moved to Escotel which is also an Aditya Birla Group company, widely known today as Idea Cellular. “Telecom back then was a regional scenario”, he adds. He then joined Usha Group with their telecom brand – Koshika. He loves the fact that he ventured into the telecom sector when it was pretty nascent and he has had an opportunity to see the whole metamorphosis of this industry from a cocoon to a butterfly. He was with Koshika till 1999, and then was hired by Bharti Airtel in 2000. “It was a 7.5 year long stint at Bharti, and the learning was tremendous”, he recollects. It is no surprise that Bharti since its inception has gone on to become a phenomenal success story in India Inc’s history. Mr. Nigam reasons out their success, “I believe everyone should at least work once for such an organisation. It is extremely process oriented and employee friendly”. He then took some time off and did a lot of research and consulting work for telecom firms before joining PayMate. According to Mr. Nigam, mobile commerce was then just starting to come to terms in the Indian market as telecom industry had matured. He affirms, “Operators were looking at new avenues for revenues, and, hence, mobile commerce was the next big thing”. After spending close to two years at PayMate, Mr. Nigam moved on and has been a part of Spice Digital ever since 2011.
Mr. Nigam brings into light the current condition of the Indian telecom market where everyone including the operators are eying newer areas for business growth. He adds, “Value Added Services (VAS) has become very prominent and the entire world is talking about mobile commerce”. Mobile commerce through VAS is such that our mobiles can be used to do anything and everything. “You can make payments, transfer funds, pay bills, access informative services, and do many more things which involve finance or commerce”, he adds with excitement. However, in his view, the rural market is not yet tech savvy to such an extent. “In rural markets, mobile commerce has not yet hit the purple patch, and so, services like SMS still hold priority for those users”. At Spice, his job is to create infrastructure for mobile commerce. “I look to create an ecosystem for mobile commerce with merchants operators and, Banks make alliances and partnerships for VAS vendors”, he clarifies. Thus he emphasizes that his primary role at Spice is to create an ecosystem for mobile commerce to exist and prosper. He also points out that very soon, movie tickets, air and rail bookings will also be widely done using mobiles
Speaking about the role of innovation, Mr. Nigam says that in mobile commerce, there is no particular benchmark for innovation. “It all depends on how different you can think. When mobiles first entered the Indian market, they were priced at INR 40000 with incoming at INR 15 and outgoing at INR 30. Today, it seems like an unreal thing to think about”. He also brings to notice that today, before we leave our houses, we look for our mobile and not the wallet! Innovation thus is very important for technology driven business. Mr. Nigam also provides us with an example on innovations to come in the future. Firstly, he feels that a lot of mess can be cleared in the toll plazas if we can cross them just by waving our mobiles through some hi-tec AI (Artificial Intelligence) enabled machine. Secondly, people living abroad should be able to top up the mobile or DTH of their parents living in India. And, we truly believe in him, because futuristic technological advancements often sound like science fiction at present, and, it has always been the case in the history of mankind.
On Spice Digital’s business, Mr. Nigam adds that Mobile Commerce is the new vertical for Spice to build on and grow. In addition to India, Spice has a global presence which is often termed I2I (Indonesia to Ivory Coast). They are also operational in Latin America and Africa. “Africa is also a very important emerging market for us where mobile commerce is coming up in a big way”, he confirms the huge potential that lies ahead for mobile commerce. According to him, the one striking change in the world of telecom is that today mobiles are on the priority list of everyone in the world. He feels that the kind of reach created by operators is truly phenomenal. His views on 3G are that it will spread more in years and once it is pure 3G, VAS will find exponential growth prospects. ‘Live Aarti’, which is a Spice 3G initiative is something amazingly modern. “My parents can watch live prayers at 6.00 am from Vaishnodevi or Shirdi”, he exults.
Mr. Nigam thinks that social media has done wonders to businesses and he himself likes LinkedIn a lot. As a leader, he thinks that the days of simply getting work done are gone, and today, teams should be motivated from within to work. “We all work for an organisation for sure, but actually we work for a team and at the end of the day, it is the team that wins”, he ascertains. Mr. Nigam has a very subtle way of handling his team and believes in constant nurturing, guiding, motivation, and recognition. He says, “I think being a good critic is essential too and the key is to develop a relation based on mutual growth which results in good cohesion”. In the business world, Mr. Sunil Mittal is someone he admires because at Bharti, he has seen the change and the vision of the visionary being followed everyday. The thing that sets Bharti apart from the others is the preset transparent process – from business operations to performance appraisal. Back in the days, when Mr. Nigam was a part of IIP M, he fondly remembers the excellent faculty members. He tells us that for success, the youngsters should try and be transparent and foresighted, “One should know where they want to be in next 4-5 years, and work towards achieving that goal”. Mr. Nigam notifies that for the young generation both opportunities and distractions are in plenty. But a balanced approach and a clear career objective helps in going the distance.
Mr. Nigam personally is an extremely fun loving individual and a complete party animal. His wife, Dr. Ekta Nigam, is a dermatologist who practices in Gurgaon. They have a nine year old son, Shrey, and as a family they love going out together.
The Cult team expresses its deepest regards to him and hopes that he keeps on growing his amazing fun filled nature and his professional acumen gets sharper by the day to take the world of mobile commerce to the next level.
