An award-winning leader and visionary in the digital entertainment landscape, Shabir Momin is committed to enhancing user experiences and embracing technological advancements. The Managing Director and Founder of New Media Holding, one of leading media networks, Momin delivers a diverse array of content that captivates millions of viewers.
As the driving force behind a digital entertainment major, Momin fosters creativity and collaboration, paving the way for ground-breaking advancements in the industry. With a keen eye for emerging trends, he continuously seeks innovative solutions that resonate with audiences. In a recent interview with Business Frontier, Momin speaks about his inspiring journey, emphasising the importance of resilience and adaptability in overcoming challenges.
Q. What inspired you towards your passion for technology?
Even as a child, I was always inclined towards technology. During my school days, the only subjects that I liked were physics, maths and computers. My keen interest in these subjects fuelled my passion, prompting me to self-teach many advanced topics. By the time I had reached 15 years in age, I was already eight years ahead and by the time I was 16, I was already an Oracle and IBM professional.
Q. Can you share a pivotal moment that shaped your entrepreneurial journey?
The journey towards entrepreneurship happened naturally with one thing leading to another. However, an important turning point came when I created a technology working as a CTO in an organisation that my team couldn’t understand and sell. So, I decided to pitch it myself to potential clients. When I presented it with honesty, the clients liked my offering and expressed interest in it. Until then, I had thought of myself purely as a technologist never realising that I could do more.
However, my company wasn’t focused on going in that direction as every company has its own focus points. So, I realised that since I had built a product from scratch and sold it successfully, I had the foundations of entrepreneurship. This realisation led me forward.
Q. What fuels your drive to deal with the ups and downs of your journey?
Success isn’t something that you achieve every day. You work hard consistently, and get success only at certain timelines or milestones. Sometimes, it’s 60% or 90% of what you had envisioned, and it is rare that you get 100% success. What I call “success against your own expectations” is often influenced by external factors.
The occasional gratification from these different kinds of wins that empowers entrepreneurs to do more. This cycle is addictive but we can be more balanced by celebrating the smaller successes.
Entrepreneurs often set large goals and become demotivated if they don’t achieve them. Instead, setting smaller, attainable goals allows us to experience the joy and satisfaction of success along the way, motivating us to tackle the next challenge.
I also tell my team that they should cherish all their triumphs. At the end of each project, month, or quarter, it’s natural and good to reflect on what went wrong as we learn from it. However, it’s crucial not to overlook the good things that we’ve accomplished on the way. If we focus solely on the negatives, we miss the satisfaction of our achievements.
So, take time to enjoy your successes first, then introspect and reflect on what doesn’t need to be repeated. This balance helps one foster a healthier mindset and encourages continued growth.
Q. You have diverse interests – from data science and crowdsourcing platforms to AI and renewable energy. How do you balance them all and what are some of the challenges that you face in doing so?
It’s not just about interest but also about evolution. You need to constantly evolve else you will become obsolete and unfortunately, the most challenging part is to be able to evolve fast and in the right direction, and also not just evolve for the sake of evolving.
As an entrepreneur, you may evolve in a direction that you don’t like much, but you still need to keep going as it’s always about the whole system, which includes a lot of other people, their families, the organisational growth etc.
The good part is if you manage to build good leaders within your team, they take over a lot of this process. I call them captains of ships. Every function, micro function, department, vertical, business, has different captains of ships and I tell them clearly that if they don’t call me, I’m happy as that means everything is going smoothly. I am blessed with a lot of amazing people in my team and believe that each one of them is a micro entrepreneur.
Q. What excites you about the future of technology?
My generation has been extremely fortunate to see many exciting changes in the field. From manual and hand dialed landline phones to smartphones and smart headset, human solutions to now AI-created solutions and automation, I don’t think any other generation will see all of this in one lifetime.
But with AI taking over the learning part and consolidating and presenting global information in a more engaging format, the next five years are going to be magical. Lot of things will change from how we commute to how we talk, interact and get information. I think the key lies in being more adaptive than reactive
Q. You won the Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013 and 2018. How did that impact you professionally and personally?
I think any recognition makes you feel amazing. For business leaders, it’s like an invisible boss giving us a pat on the shoulder and it really reassures us that we are headed in the right direction. It fuels us to do more, do better, create multiple solutions and basically, just keep going.
Q. What advice do you have for young entrepreneurs, who want to build their own empire in the near future?
I work a lot in the startup ecosystem and feel that most entrepreneurs make two major mistakes. Firstly, they are busy making business plans to please investors in the initial stages when they should be sitting, thinking and conceptualising. Once they get the money from investors, they end up doing something that they hadn’t intended to do in the first place in the business plan.
Secondly, a lot of professionals think more after the product is launched. Planning and changing too many things as you are delivering can become a huge problem and a significant percentage of entrepreneurs can avoid this if they plan carefully beforehand even if it takes longer.
