She started her venture from scratch, taking on odd jobs for random projects, working for free just to get experience. With her just her own camera, she has even worked for a non-profit (MatteCentrum) that teaches math for free via Youtube videos. This work may seem simple at first, but behind it lies hours of hard graft and dedication; a passion for the film business; a long-standing desire to run a production company.
Lavaniya’s entrepreneurial venture, Lyrical Devastation Productions, has made her aspirations a reality.
Like many thousands of film grads from SAE Melbourne, a creative media college in Australia, at the time she only had eyes for the media production industry. Her film company was more than just a business. It was her childhood dreams come true.
“Since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to own my own production company,” she says. “When I finished school and could not find regular work in something I wanted to do, I decided it was time to start my own company. And why not?”
The financial crisis of 2008 made finding undergraduate work tough. Like many grads who scoured through unpaid internships and placements, there is a question that one often asks: How do you get enough experience to work, without being allowed to work without experience?
“But this was a way of getting experience when everyone was inexperienced,” she continues. “I got some small jobs with TV companies but they only lasted a few months, as is the case with the media industry. I expected to get a decent job coming out of college but 2008 wasn’t a good time to get one. It was quite tough.”
But Lavaniya’s desire to be a film maker inspired her to wake up each morning and drive her business forward. Now, she is happy that she persisted.
Her last project was working on a Swedish blockbuster (she insists she can’t tell me which title), and was an Editor at the Stockholm Film Festival. But if her only achievement was to be a semi-successful entrepreneur, that wouldn’t make her as interesting. If she only aspired to marry business and media together on a small-scale, this story would be great. But there’s more.
Lavaniya is studying an MBA at HEC Paris and seeks to help other entrepreneurial-minded MBAs launch their careers too. She is the co-president of the HEC MBA Marketing and Media Club and an Officer in the MBA Entrepreneurship Club. The latter has just announced plans for a start-up day in Paris this week, to provide a forum for budding entrepreneurs to discuss their business ideas.
You don’t need an MBA to launch a start-up, but this filmmaker needed one to drive her company to new heights. “An MBA is filling in the gaps on the business side so that I can talk to potential investors,” she says. “It’s also filling in the gaps on marketing side, because in my industry people don’t realise that you need a balance between arts and business.
“Everything evolves very quickly, so it was important to learn marketing to know how to sell my products and learn to target audiences as well. I have learnt all these aspects on the MBA so far. There’s nothing that I feel I won’t use again.”
In an increasingly competitive market, an MBA was a route to better equip herself to deal with the challenges that Lyrical Devastation Productions faced. There are no shortages of production companies in Europe (PwC predicts continued UK expansion until 2017), and it would be wrong to assume launching her business in Sweden was done with ease.
“The biggest challenges were financial,” Lavaniya said. “I made it a point not to borrow any money, so whatever I earned I put back into the company, for upgraded equipment and stuff like that. It was tough because I didn’t know where to start. But I used the money raised to build up the company and by year two, I was earning a wage for myself.”
Studying at HEC Paris was a shrewd plan to merge the arts with business, but a decision made out of necessity more than desire. “You have to have that business sense and I felt I hadn’t learnt much about business in film school,” she continued. “I tried my best but I didn’t know how to talk to a lot of investors; it got harder and harder to talk to them about funding because I didn’t know the terminology.
“I realised that I needed to take my company to the next level at some point. I wanted to continue studying in Europe and what’s nice about HEC is that it was very welcoming. They considered me an equal with everyone else, with people coming from finance and consulting backgrounds. I liked that.”
Lavaniya expected to go straight back into the business after graduation. A year out of industry can’t be too damaging - and production is currently on hold. But she didn’t expect to want to explore new avenues. As any MBA will tell you, studying at business school opens your eyes to new opportunities; new career paths to follow. Now, she is tempted by strategy.
“It has really opened up my eyes to not just marketing, but the strategic aspect of developing concepts to be rolled out,” she says. “Looking at the impact of the internet and new media has been really interesting as well. I will start my company up again at some point, but I’m seriously thinking about going into strategy and marketing in the entertainment industry.”
Her term as co-president of the MBA Marketing and Media Club has given her more contacts in the industry. Like the start-up day the club is holding this week, it has opened her eyes to the possibilities that connections can bring. The club even has the marketing director of Coca Cola coming in as a keynote speaker.
Lavaniya’s end goal has always been the same. The child that once was still harbours a desire to run a media production company. An MBA at HEC Paris hasn’t changed her dream; rather, it has enhanced it with the opportunity to take a new path.
The MBA remains a door-opener, even for entrepreneurs. She was dead-set on restarting Lyrical Devastation Productions before enrolment.
But now?
“I might.”
RECAPTHA :
5e
8f
e8
94
