Founder of Katalyst Marcom, Communicating Effectively within Organisations.
Born and raised in Delhi to parents who emphasised on formal education, Misha Bajaj owes success to her family, mentors, bosses, colleagues, and friends. A great believer in both formal and informal education, she completed her Bachelor’s in Commerce and pursued a three-year diploma in Entrepreneurship and Marketing at the same time. Misha began her career by working with numerous Indian companies but took a break from her career after the birth of her son. When her son turned two, she began working as a Communications officer at the British High Commission. She pursued her Master’s in Business with a specialisation in International Business and Marketing from IMT while still working and looking after her toddler. Misha’s husband (an entrepreneur himself) and a strong supporter, along with her in-laws, helped her through this time. She moved on from the High Commission after serving for over thirteen years. She served as Director of Marketing & Communications for Scottish Development International (SDI) in her last stint with the mission before starting her own company – Katalyst Marcom.
A few years ago, Misha and her co-founder realised that while there was enough and more being done for Marketing and Communications to an external audience, not many people were really spending time on communicating effectively within organisations and their people. People make for the most essential part of any organisation, and it is imperative that they are communicated to and engaged with. Seeing a gap in this area, she began working with companies towards communicating to their internal audiences. Katalyst Marcom is a communications company that understands that communication is the key to differentiating one from another. They ensure to always communicate clearly with their clients and work towards a win-win outcome for any and all interventions.
Misha wears several hats, both in her professional and personal life – as a co-founder of a growing company, a leadership coach, a manager, a mother, wife, daughter, friend, sister, an entrepreneur, and a lifelong learner! Challenges are bound to happen in such a scenario; hence her mantra to deal with them is to ask for support whenever needed and not feel less for it. She feels blessed to have strong relationships in both her personal and professional life.
She says, it’s not about what you deserve; it’s about what you believe. And she believes that she can make a difference through her business, her work, and simply by being herself. She says the pandemic affected her company as they are part of an ecosystem with clients and vendors alike, and when any of these entities get affected, it affects her business as well. Misha has taken this time as an opportunity to build her team, upskill as required and to make more services available to her existing and new clients.
Katalyst Marcom is a small business with a very strong team of young professionals, all of whom are willing to make a difference and learn as they grow. The last one year has been a difficult time for everyone, and they have seen many companies running out of business and unable to pay their teams. Misha and her team have not only managed to stay in business but have grown, and people have been by their side through it all.
Along her journey, there are particular strengths that have served her well like:
- Time optimising – She loves to make every minute of her time productive.
- Self-awareness – This helps her understand herself and her reactions to situations and people, giving her the ability to recognise and accept her emotions through any crisis while keeping balance.
- Humour – It always helps lighten up people and situations, helping her keep calm and carry on.
- Contribution and service are inbuilt in her character, and if she succeeds in helping even one individual grow and achieve their goals, she feels her life is worth it.
She believes that when we don’t pay enough time and attention to detail, then we run the risk of providing a suboptimal service or product. Misha’s mantra to growth, development and success is “Aut inveniam viam aut faciam”, a Latin saying that means, “I shall either find a way or make one.” She says, always take life as it comes and face up to anything that comes with it. If you win, it’s great; if you don’t, you’ll learn and you’ll sleep easy knowing that you gave it your best shot!
