MAM
The power of networking in business and forging meaningful connections
Mumbai: Networking is a crucial skill for success in business. It allows you to build relationships, get introduced to new opportunities, and gain insights and advice from others. However, networking effectively goes beyond just showing up to events and collecting business cards. It’s about creating and nurturing mutually beneficial connections. Here are some tips on utilising the power of networking and forging meaningful relationships in business:
Focus on giving first, not just taking
The most effective networkers approach relationships with a generous mindset. Look for ways you can offer value to others through your expertise, connections, or support. Help make introductions between people in your network who would benefit from knowing each other. Share interesting articles, tips, or other useful information with your contacts. Don’t just look at what someone can do for you.
Build rapport and trust
Take time to establish rapport with key contacts. Get to know them personally beyond just professional titles. Build trust by being reliable, honest, and showing interest in who they are as individuals. Follow through on commitments you make and recommend others only if you truly believe there is a good fit. The stronger the rapport, the more willing contacts will be to help you out.
Stay visible and connect regularly
Don’t just reach out to your network when you need something. Maintain regular contact to nurture relationships over time. Periodically send updates on your latest projects, make phone calls to catch up, and connect face-to-face when possible. Look for opportunities to provide value to others along the way. The more engaged you are, the more likely your contacts will think of you when an opportunity arises.
Listen and ask thoughtful questions
When connecting with new contacts, practice active listening skills. Learn about their experience, interests, challenges, and goals. Then engage them with thoughtful, open-ended questions to uncover areas where you may be able to collaborate, make helpful introductions, or support them in other ways. Take a genuine interest.
Expand your circles
Look for opportunities to meet new people and add fresh connections to your pipeline. Attend industry events, conferences, and seminars that put you in front of different audiences. Engage fellow attendees before and after events. Follow up afterward to continue the conversation. Over time, you will organically build an expanded, diverse network.
Create win-win opportunities
The most meaningful connections are grounded in finding mutual benefits. When you successfully bring together the right people or resources, you add value for everyone involved. Brainstorm creative ways to generate these win-win scenarios that allow you and your contacts to help each other move forward. This could include job opportunities, speaking engagements, new client introductions, press exposure, funding connections, or beneficial partnerships.
In business, who you know is very important. But it’s the strength and reciprocity within those relationships that generate the greatest returns. Be strategic and thoughtful about cultivating your network. The more you can forged meaningful connections based on trust and generosity, the further it will take you.
The author of this article entrepreneur and RiSAA IVF and CEO Dr Saarthak Bakshi.
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
