Leaders

Instilling creativity to foster innovation in the workplace, products, and services will happen only with leaders who are curious and sensual with the ability of forecasting and building visionary growth perspectives. Moreover, the leader should be capable of igniting innovation by driving an atmosphere that offers freedom to think and explore.

Amita Jain is such a maven who promotes the growth of Bizongo Desworks as Creative Director. The impressive story of this industry leader takes us on a ride where she showcases the importance of being an open-minded learner and humble person. Women Entrepreneur India engages in an exclusive interview to learn valuable nuggets from Amita.

What basic life learnings did your industry experience teach you?

One thing that has stuck with me in the entire 10 years of my industry experience is the ability to be open to challenges and acquire in-demand skill sets. In college, we usually work on hypothetical projects, but when we have real-time scenarios and work in the industry, we will have to learn new skills and face a lot of challenges. The only thing that can help you and give confidence is research and an open mind to learn and excel.

Tell us about the various responsibilities you shoulder at Bizongo Desworks. What are your current focus areas in terms of driving growth for the brand?

I am the Creative Director of Desworks, which is the design arm of Bizongo. It is a design consultancy firm catering to the packaging segments. Focusing on customer-centricity, we deliver a wholesome and rich consumer experience through our services of branding, graphics, design development, and value engineering that help produce designs faster and optimize the existing portfolio of packaging/products.

Packaging is such a huge subject that requires multiple skill sets and specializations. My role here is to understand what clients demand in terms of the scope of service and help people collaborate by bringing all the skill sets together.

My entire focus goes into aligning the team with the client’s goals and bringing impactful stories on the packaging. In any consultation service, forecasting challenges, risks, and opportunities are important, which is also a major part of my role.

Throw some light on the critical business challenges you faced recently in your current role. What steps do you take to overcome the roadblocks that you face?

If I have to mention a recent challenge, the pandemic and post-pandemic period were a struggle indeed. Communication was the biggest challenge, primarily because designing is a collaborative activity and demands physical presence to resolve several issues. However, it allowed us to upscale ourselves and create a better design approach to deliver the projects faster; it definitely worked in our favor in terms of onboarding and executing the projects.

In your opinion what are some of the most significant milestones that you have achieved throughout your professional journey? What has been the driving force behind your success as a professional?

I feel extremely happy to see our packaging live up on the shelves when we go shopping. It’s a proud moment, isn’t it? I believe every such small milestone brings you validation and assures you that you are going in the right direction. If you ask for an accolade as a milestone, then I would like to mention about Europe Product Design Award, which I was conferred with twice for creativity in packaging.

How do you align yourself with the periodic shifts in your respective industry and technology landscape? Packaging is an old industry and several solutions are already available, the key for today’s era is to use digitization and build something relevant for today’s generation using existing solutions. Not everything has to be created from scratch; it is about how things can be scaled from zero to one and then one to ten, for instance. As a technology-driven company, being at par with digital and AI is easier for Bizongo. We are much updated with the paradigm shifts in the industry. We embrace research to keep pace with the market and bring in design intelligence using data for progressive solutions.

What would your advice be to youngsters who also aspire to become business leaders?

Be humble! This is one aspect that has helped me a lot; it could be a personal trait but a vital one. Have humility when you give feedback to your colleagues or teammates. This apart, it is important to have the discipline to show up every day. Analyze when ideas can grow from 0-1 and from 1-10 and nurture those ideas accordingly. Give your 100 percent to everything you do, learn and unlearn through all the experiences, pursue the necessary skills, and be open to learning from anyone.

Amita Jain, Creative Director, Bizongo Desworks

Amita is an alumnus of the MIT Institute of Design. Before her current role at Bizongo Desworks, she co-founded Kamchori and held various leadership roles at companies such as Axiom Consultancy, Zivene Design & Development, and others.