Title: CNBC TV18 Interview of Founder, Cactus Communications
Job Code:
File name: AVSEQ01
Duration: 22:36
Total pages: 3
00:00:00
Shereen Bhan
Hello and welcome to Young Turks, the show that puts the spotlight on
two young achievers every single week and takes you through their
journey to success. I am Shereen Bhan and no I am not coming to you
from New Delhi. I am actually in Tokyo at the World Economic Forum’s
East Asia Summit and that’s where we found our next achiever. We are
actually coming to you from Tokyo. We are here at the World Economic
Forum’s East Asia Summit and that’s where we have found our young
achiever. Outsourcing has seen many avatars in India from services to
knowledge and there are some who are cashing in on the business of
languages. Cactus Communications is one such example, a Mumbai-based
firm that had made its foray into the world of English editing and
research-based educational services under the brand names, Editage and
i-osmosis – all under the vision of one man. What started off as a
freelance vocation for 27-year-old Abhishek Goel 4 years ago in Japan is
now a full-fledged business operation largely focused on the scientific
community in Japan and now looking at South East Asia. But is this
something he always wanted to do?
00:01:55
Abhishek Goel
I came to Japan on an Exchange where I was with ISEC, that’s student
exchange program and there I wanted to do waste management. So I met
researchers at Universities in Tokyo and outside. I went back to India and
struggled with waste management. As you would know that waste
management in India is dirty business, if I may say so. And with
government intervention, with local mafia, with almost people who – I just
didn’t have the skills to deal with – skills nor the education to deal with
that sort of an audience then. So I said, okay, let me do something else,
let me find something else that is exciting enough that I would like doing.
I went back to India, and we started this company that does English
editing focused on researchers in Japan, helping researchers publish
internationally because Japan has a very vibrant research community that
everyone knows about but…
Shereen Bhan
But how did you strike upon this particular idea because you know you
came here for a 3-month exchange program, did you see that there was a
KEY
[ph]: Short for “phonetic”; used to indicate transcribed text that has been typed as it
sounds and we are unsure about. Generally used for proper nouns.
作業者が聞き取ることは出来ても、確信を持てないもの。固有名詞のうち、確認の難しいものなど。
[Unclear]: Indicates parts where we were unable to hear or understand what is spoken.
作業者が聞き取ることができないもの。テープの音質または話者の話し方（アクセント）によります。
[Multiple Speakers]: Used when more than one speaker is speaking at a given time and
it is difficult to transcribe what is spoken.
複数の話者が同時に話しているために、会話を聞き取ることが困難であるもの。
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gap in the market and that’s why you wanted to sort of come in and
bridge that gap? How did you come upon this idea?
Abhishek Goel
Right. Well, I met with a Professor at the University of Tokyo, which is
well undoubtedly Japan’s largest university and I met him for waste
management. At the end of our discussion, he says, okay you speak
English, why don’t you edit my research papers for me. I was scared, I
was like, okay, you know, no it’s not a good idea. I have got a commerce
background and your papers are going to be technical, scientific and there
is no way I am going to be able to do it. And I have stuff to do. I don’t
want to be doing editing.
Shereen Bhan
Yeah.
Abhishek Goel
But he insisted, he said look at it, you will learn and you get to foster a
bond with me and maybe I will help you some time in the future. So I said
okay great, let’s start. Went back, was doing this on the side while I was
exploring my waste management, my dream.
00:03:59
And gradually I realized that there is a gap because this was a first
meeting I had with a professor, he trusted me with his research papers
that were going to define his career, right, whether he gets a Nobel or
not.
Shereen Bhan
And then the dream changed?
Abhishek Goel
The dream has not changed, but it’s exciting. So, yeah, I am liking it.
Shereen Bhan
Okay. So let’s talk about the excitement, now let’s talk about Cactus
which is the company that you started 4 years ago. Did it require a lot of
money to start because it’s not a really capital-intensive business in that
sense?
Abhishek Goel
Initially when we started out, we said okay there is a market gap but we
didn’t go and create a fancy business plan. We said let’s just do this on
the side. Let’s do this, let’s see if something happens there. So we started
with a makeshift office at home initially and then finally took a small office
because we said, okay, if we need to recruit someone we can’t get them
to work out of home. So that’s how it began and well, not really capital
intensive, because we decided to keep costs low. We didn’t want to just –
we didn’t want to – we are very wise with money if I may so myself.
00:05:03
END
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