New Delhi:
Vivek Oberoi made his acting debut in the 2002 gangster film Company. The actor went on to feature in several popular films including Saathiya, Krrish 3, Masti, Omkara, and Dum. But, did you know that he also owns a money lending business worth Rs 3,400 crore? Well, yes. At an event in Mumbai, Vivek revealed that his student loan business is now worth about ₹3,400 crore. In the clip, shared on Franchise India YouTube channel, the actor can be heard saying, “I set up a start-up which was into education fee financing, non-collateralised. It became very big. We reached 12,000 schools, colleges, and universities through a B2B network. But then we connected to the customer and owned that data. We got to know our customers directly, which was 45 lakh individuals who were going to school or college. That was very rich data, and that’s how the company was valued at almost $400 million (around Rs 3,400 crore).”
Vivek Oberoi credited the success of his business to the smart use of his personal brand to garner attention. He said, “When I leveraged my brand, it had a positive social impact which was authentic to who I am because I like doing things that create a positive social impact. One of the concepts we created was a zero-interest payment plan. For a lending company to create a zero-interest payment plan is itself an anomaly. But it worked very well, we made it work financially, and we made the company very successful and created value out of it.”
The actor also revealed that he handled the meetings himself rather than sending his team to do his work. Additionally, he prefers to fly economy with his team members while travelling for work related to his start-up business. “Whenever I fly personally, I fly first class or business class. But whenever I fly for a company that I’m a co-founder of, I fly economy with the whole team. That resonance of team-building, that makes a massive impact, not only in terms of team morale but also fiscal discipline,” said Vivek Oberoi.
Currently, Vivek Oberoi balances the double aspects of his life as an actor and entrepreneur. He was last seen in Rohit Shetty’s web series Indian Police Force alongside Sidharth Malhotra and Shilpa Shetty.
