About Me • Perzen Darukhanawalla

– Born in India, Lived in New Zealand for 10 years– Four years of Event Management Experience predominantly

in Corporate Events– Currently working at a boutique startup PR agency

My Startup • Mayrahkee Event Design

– Greek word – Symbolises doing something with creativity, passion & soul

and putting a bit of yourself into everything you do

The Problems

• People living abroad especially event agencies who are looking at planning events in India find it hard coordinating with Indian event suppliers as there is no online presence and a planning culture clash

• Destination event planners in India do not offer a single destination expertise as they have never lived there before and rely on local suppliers extensively

• No simple short-term solution for managing event guests – following up is a pain

My Solutions

• Work with International Event Agencies and/or individual clients and be a project manager in India

• Utilise my New Zealand experiences to promote it as an event destination

• Develop a simple guest management system that can be hired for short periods for multiple users and which works online and on a smartphone

Proof of Traction

• Have not started implementation of solutions for first two problems/solutions as currently in research phase

• Spoken to Indian couples planning weddings that manage a huge amount of guests and several have shown interest for a simple system that families can use to co-ordinate a guest list

Market Potential

• Have not undertaken in-depth research in market potential but:– Corporate Conferences/Events are very popular abroad and

look for exotic destinations annually. India being a central unique destination in South East Asia it would be popular

– New Zealand has long been promoted as a pure destination and is a very popular honeymoon spot for Indian couples. Promoting it for destination weddings is a natural extension

– Personal and Co-workers experience/frustration in never having an easy central point of access for managing guests and having several copies of event guest lists.

The Competition

• Several event agencies and freelancers within Mumbai with many big players such as Shobiz, Seventy7, Wizcraft etc. that have big teams that focus heavily on business development and lots of experience while smaller agencies have a few key clients they repeatedly service.

• Almost all agencies promote destination events but limit themselves to South East Asian destinations as are familiar with those and feel that families would not spend money flying to a far-away destination like New Zealand.

• Quite a few online ticketing or single event software available online which the guest management system would be directly competing with.

The Differentiator

• Will actively target international event agencies wanting to host corporate and academic conferences

• Provide expertise in destination events by only focusing on New Zealand. Potentially tie-up with Tourism New Zealand to become a registered event partner

• Offer a simple wholly-owned guest management software for a short period means data remains secure and private without significant investment. In Stage 2, software will also be available over the phone for seamless guest management of weddings and other corporate events.

Go to Market Plan

Inbound Events Starting with NZ & Australia, forge partnerships with conference

associations, event departments at academic facilities and independent event agencies to become local event partner.

Use existing networks with ex-clients and conference committees to spread the word

Tie-up with agency listing websites in New Zealand to market Mayrahkee’s services

Destination Events Forge partnership with Tourism NZ in India to get resources about

NZ as a destination and undertake joint PR/Marketing initiatives Work with Conventions NZ that promotes international events to

understand support offered for destination weddings in NZ Tie-up with travel partners that promote NZ as a destination for

cross-marketing initiatives

Guest Management Software Software is currently under development for Phase 1

online activity

Goal is to secure at least 10 clients to recover investment cost of software before going to the mobile platform

Use existing family networks within the wedding industry to start by promoting software for weddings happening this wedding season

This part of the business can work independently or can be offered as a complimentary service as part of the event package as it would be of low cost to Mayrahkee and high value to the client

Go to Market Plan

Financial Model

• This section is not fully researched and is an area that we require assistance in but we aim to capture value by:

– Utilising NZ experience and Indian background as a selling point in establishing trust with international agencies

– Capitalise on growing trends of destination weddings and events and garner destination support by working with national agencies such as Tourism New Zealand and Conventions & Incentives New Zealand. Specialisation in a singular destination provides focus while creating a market niche

– Offering a short term guest management software on “rent” means that organisations have a central point for managing guest but the low cost means it is something that can be signed off without multiple approval levels. Within Indian weddings, no such popular software exists that assists families in managing 1000+guests over multiple events – offers an aura of professionalism without them having to go to an event agency specifically for this service.

What do I need?

• Mentorship for establishing a business model in the Indian market, specifically within the service industry

• Mentorship within the technology area to streamline and maximize the User Interface of the guest management software

• Existing networks with International corporates that seek India as a destination

• Investment for developing second phase of mobile software