Anup Agarwal
Leaders

Anup Agarwal

Owing to his boundless dedication to excel and immense passion to make it big, Anup has swiftly climbed up the ladder of success. Bright Diva International is a very young company which was co-founded by him in the year 2015; merely within two years of its operation the firm has achieved 10% of market share within the K-Beauty (Korean Cosmetics) category in Hong Kong thereby emerging as the Top K-beauty distributor in the region.

A TRUE VISIONARY

Driven by passion to excel in every endeavour he undertakes, Anup is an excellent communicator, and possesses the qualities of decisiveness, flexibility and risk-taking appetite. He vehemently believes that “Every effective leader must have the ability to make sound decisions in any given situation. Decisiveness is one of the characteristics which an effective leader must possess.” As a leader who leads by example, Anup feels that “Leaders must possess the ability to lead by example. If you want your employees to follow you, then you have to lead them by example and enthusiasm. As a leader, it is up to you – not to tell, but to show and set example.”

He is of the view that “A business leader must be an Effective Communicator and be able to explain the team members the company goals clearly and succinctly, in particular the specific task as to what the company expects from them. If the people do not understand or are not aware of your expectations, they will fall short in delivering the result.”

He vehemently believes that exceptional leaders are the driving force behind a firm’s success as they inspire employees to succeed by boosting their morale. Talking about the traits of Exceptional leaders, he elaborates, “Exceptional leaders have the ability to look into their company’s future and make clear, concrete goals that will benefit their organization. They are confident and optimistic. They are openminded and have a flexible approach and are ready to experiment with new ideas.”

He feels, “Compelling leaders motivate their employees to strive wholeheartedly for their company goals. They are able to create lasting relationships with varied network of people, leaders, partners, clients and even competitors.”

He concludes, “Every business comes with a risk; it is the risk-taking appetite in such a competitive world that defines a leader.”

REAPING THE SWEET FRUITS OF SUCCESS

Despite having tasted success quite early in life, Anup feels that he has a long way to go. As he puts it, “Well there is still more to achieve in terms of career. But until now my career high point I would say is achieving the top position in K-beauty Distribution within just 2 years of our operation. K-beauty in Hong Kong in the year 2019 was 1 billion USD market, out of which we have captured 150 Million USD. We are already present in 9 countries and have successfully built an organisation of almost 250 people.”

He asserts with pride, “To be able to reach here was not easy and it did take a lot of hard work and passion. Each member of Bright Diva family has contributed to the growth and all the success would not have been possible without the great team that we have.”

Talking about the significance of his role models in his success, he elaborates, “I have been inspired by a lot of people in my life, but the contribution of my uncle has been immense in shaping up my career. They taught me how to ‘believe in yourself’ and respect every work. I learned that one needs to just have the three basic qualities to grow in life – Trust yourself, Ownership of responsibility, and Passion in your work (T.O.P.).”

He doesn’t believe in sitting back and resting on his laurels but feels that he has a lot to achieve. Sharing his vision for the future growth of his company, he stresses, “My aim is to work towards the recognition of Bright Diva as the best distribution company in Asia and maybe globally in future within the FMCG, H&B industry. We want to be the most preferred and strategic partner for great brands wanting to have their footprints within the countries where we are present. Even though a lot of challenges are there, but we are very confident that we will be able to achieve these goals.”

GIVING BACK TO SOCIETY

Possessing a heart of gold, Anup has been continually inclined towards making the world a better place. “At Bright Diva we have always believed in returning back to the community; corporate social responsibility is at the heart of Bright Diva and we participate in every possible opportunity to engage in paying back to the community,” he asserts.

Sharing his views on CSR, he states, “Social responsibility is part of everyday life for everyone; one biggest social responsibility I believe for any organisation is to create jobs. It is our responsibility to be able to keep our employees’ lives as balanced as possible; then to train and nurture them to be able to become future business owners so that they can also start their own business and create further jobs. With success comes responsibility, we have been trying to help the needy as much as we can. We have partnered with the Cancer Fund of Hong Kong to help women in fighting breast cancer.

Stating some of the measures undertaken by him to combat the pandemic, he says, “At the peak stage of COVID-19; we procured around 500,000 face masks from Korea and sold them at cost to major local retailers and brought crucial supplies to the people of Hong Kong; and part of the proceeds was donated to the Hong Kong Cancer Fund.” He adds, “To meet the demand and give the city a further boost in fight against ongoing pandemic, we are currently importing USD 4 Million worth of sanitizing supplies; including hand sanitizers, antibacterial hand wash and body wash. We have partnered with Unilever to import products by Lifebuoy and made them available at over 3,000 retail location across Hong Kong; enabling to ease out the demands and panic buying. Together with this we have also donated big quantity of surgical masks and hand sanitizers to every section of society.”