Kushan Randeni, Founder/CEO of Design Box Global fast forwarded his career skipping A/L to go straight into higher education at the age of 17. After his degree, he worked at a few companies gaining valuable experience in design and advertising.
Diriya Stories is a series designed by Diriya.lk to relate escapades of entrepreneurs in order to applaud and recognize them and also to inspire and encourage others.
Here we go with our 12 questions for Kushan:
Describe your biz
Design Box is multi-faceted creative agency founded in 2018 under 4 different business units.
Digital Marketing & Research Unit – the start, the money maker and the heart of the company handling simple social media campaigns to complex operations using advanced technologies. From international clients like Netflix, Google to local giants like Dialog, Jetwing and BMICH we have been privileged in our clients trust, enabling us to give out the best digital marketing services available in the market.
Development Unit – this unit develops websites, complex software products, mobile and web applications to cater to any client need.
Design Studio – identified a huge gap in the local and international corporate marketing sector where there is marketing/design talent in-house, but is costly and hard to manage. That’s where we step in and offer design retainers to match different client requirements.
Production House – is capable of handling 14 camera FULL HD productions. Action, underwater and drone videography.
All four units afford the clients a one stop shop in terms of digital and is the reason we have one of the best client retention rates.
When and where did the idea form
My last employment was at Dialog and I was responsible for digital marketing for 5 sub brands, working with multiple digital marketing/creative agencies. The way they functioned or their processes were identical however, my feeling was that it could be more effective. Taking from my experience in working at agencies, I developed a structure for a creative agency that delivered effective results in terms of productivity and client sentiment. This gave me the idea to branch out on my own.
The start
After laying groundwork for over a year, Design Box came into life in October 2018. It was a hard decision leaving a comfortable job and it was risky and I was in a constant dilemma whether I’ll make it or fall short. But the time felt right, I had been in the industry for 5 years, I knew everything I needed to know and having made the right connections, I felt I could make it happen. I received unimaginable support from my former bosses and colleagues at Dialog Axiata. It was not all sunshine and rainbows. I’m proud that some of the groundwork I laid stood well during the pandemic and we were able to capitalize and grow tremendously.
Who inspired you or where did you draw strength from
From the start to holding on during tough times not giving up and becoming more resilient, I did it all for a better life for my parents and myself. That envisioned better life was my carrot and I chased the hell out of it!
Most difficult obstacle
In our industry the biggest difficulty is credibility. It’s highly competitive and despite our edge due to our innovative structure, initially pitching without a credible set of big clients behind us was hard. However, the connections/leads I gathered over my 5 years in the industry came in handy in securing big clients towards the end of our first year. Also, generally there are multiple founders in an agency to bring in leads but unluckily or luckily it was just me.
Something nice some told you to spur you on or something you read
Nothing good comes in life to those who wait or don’t take risks.
How many people do you employ?
We currently employ 35 people.
Any outsourced entities/person that benefit from your biz
We outsource some work to camera crew for productions.
In your opinion your most positive quality
Being patient and resilient
Yours or your biz drawbacks
The current economic crisis is affecting the industry and economies all around the world.
Future plan
To use our development arm to work on new projects that would be stand-alone digital products that will belong to us. Aim is to develop, test and seek investment to take the products to market. We have two such projects in development at the moment.
Agency wise, we’re focusing more on acquiring overseas clients now.
Advise to start ups
My advice to founders is that things will be really hard. But if you’re strategic, have a strong/achievable vision and are resilient, you will get there.
We wish Kushan all the very best in his future endeavours!!
If you are an entrepreneur and have stories you wish to share with our readers, please email us on info@diriya.lk
Interested in reading more Diriya Stories, check out our post on Jovanka Jayaweera.
Kushan is an amazingly motivated individual for his work. His desire to innovate and change the status quo is shown through the attitude for this work.