A rewarding, insightful and inspiring global- and India perspective of 2022 and the way ahead by Nijay N Nair who, as CEO of Adfactors PR, is part of the senior management team at India’s biggest, most awarded and much respected public relations firm.
Nijay has written this piece on invitation and exclusively for BRIEF23, which features industry stalwarts, thought leaders, industry captains, business heads, brand custodians and other C-suite heads from diverse companies across sectors, size and scale, sharing their learnings from 2022, and guidance and inspiration to help empower professionals for the upcoming FY 2023-24.
Nijay N Nair considers himself to be a specialist at being a generalist, and brings two decades of rich experience in diverse management functions across strategy, business development, project management and planning, international relations, marketing and corporate communication, infrastructure development, procurement and commercial management.
Nijay’s career has involved building and managing growth in sectors including auto, information technology, and logistics and infrastructure spanning the US, Mexico, Bulgaria, Canada, Singapore, Philippines and Sri Lanka – other than India.
And over the past 10 years, Nijay has worked closely with the Founders and leadership at Adfactors PR on building it into the largest Communications and Reputation management company in India. Nijay was appointed CEO in 2022 – and despite all his achievements, he confesses he was ‘terrified at the magnitude of what this means’!
Read about that and much more in this piece from the straight-talking, knowledge- and insights-driven Nijay N Nair. We are sure you will find this as rewarding a read as we did.
BRIEF23 by Nijay N Nair, CEO – Adfactors PR
2022: Do not go gentle into that good night. I wonder if ever there was a more befitting title for a year.
COVID finally receded, but the global economy was thrown out of gear and inflation became the biggest story of 2022. Supply-chain issues in semiconductors was just the beginning… fuelled further by the money pumped by the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) and other Central Banks as pandemic response, taking inflation to well over 7% from near-zero in many Western countries.
Meanwhile, Russia invaded Ukraine in February, resulting in a continuing war, and the Western World imposed sanctions on Russia, which responded in turn by increasing oil prices – adding more inflation since it is one of the largest oil suppliers globally.
The Fed, meanwhile, decides the only way to fight inflation is to raise interest rates sharply from 0.125% in February to 4.375% in December – a 34x hike in <10 months; the highest rate increase in US history. Impact? Global stock markets tumble (the NASDAQ fell 35%); technology-related company valuations plummet; Crypto, the flavour of 2021, falls from grace steeply; many tokens tank to zero. Bitcoin price falls to 1/3rd of its peak value.
Add to all of these China’s Covid-related lockdowns adding to economic uncertainty. Not to mention the geo-political risks associated with frequent Indo-China border tensions and talk about China’s ultimate intentions with Taiwan.
Oh, and yes… meanwhile in 2022, the UK somehow managed to have three Prime Ministers in two months; there was, and is, a revolution brewing in Iran, led by women; Pakistan continued to face issues — PM Imran Khan lost a vote of confidence in April, and was shot at in November, while floods devastated parts of the country; Sri Lanka slumped into a life-crippling economic crisis, deeply affecting its 22 million inhabitants (22 of them are part of Adfactors – Sri Lanka)
And yet, most of humanity enjoyed the FIFA World Cup, especially the Messi (read GOAT) fans. Vamanos Argentina!
As I said, 2022: Do not go gentle into that good night.
At this point, if you are, like, ‘It didn’t seem that bad’, you are spot on! We, in India, were thankfully insulated from a lot of this bad juju. In our 75th independent year, we became the 5th largest economy in the World — from #11 just a decade ago.
Several factors contributed to this; amongst them: India’s self-reliant economy with a thriving digital services ecosystem, nourishing both employment and entrepreneurship; the RBI and this administration’s economic prudence through the pandemic, keeping a lid on inflation; the amazing vaccine rollout to a billion people, despite widespread global scepticism. #JaiHind.
India also navigated geo-politics with finesse. We chose neutral diplomacy, thereby ensuring our oil supply (critical to inflation) and national interests were protected. Make in India benefitted from a global China Plus One strategy; India’s G20 Presidency — a confederation of the 20 largest economies of the world that together account for 85% of global GDP — serving testament to our rising relevance.
No surprises, therefore, that India’s stock market thrived. The BSE Sensex added ~3%, even as most other major markets suffered. The Hang Seng (Hong Kong) index was -16%; S&P 500, USA -19%; the German DAX -12%; Nikkei, Japan -9%.
Encouragingly, retail India (you and me) participated, doubling the investor base in two years to 10-plus Cr
But it wasn’t as if we had no drama. Technology-related valuations and Crypto fell drastically here in India too, hurting lots of companies and investors #InvestCarefully. We also lost the T20 World Cup semi-finals to England #Hush.
But all things considered, I’d say, #Touchwood.
This is the world we live in. Adfactors PR – and our leadership like the many companies out there – have the privilege and responsibility to guide their companies through an imminent uncertain short-term future for humanity. I am terrified at times at the magnitude of what that means, and at 44 whether I am old or wise enough to do justice to this beautiful idea called Adfactors PR. And then, our Founder and Managing Director Madan Bahal reminded me that the current Prime Minister of the UK, Rishi Sunak, is only 42! #Amazing
When I was reflecting on how Adfactors PR navigated through the various ups and downs over its 25-year history and yet continued to grow and serve its constituents undeterred, something I had read earlier struck! Conditions determine probabilities. Probabilities determine outcomes. Pay attention to the conditions. I realized that Adfactors PR has always paid attention to the conditions, and it was this focus that helped it manage the outcomes.
While India currently has many variables propelling its inevitable rise, success is never a given. Many threats loom large in 2023, including a likely recession in the US and Europe, a volatile China along with increasing geo-political tensions, plus an omni-present threat of Covid resurgence. All of these are sure to affect global liquidity and likely to impact us here in India as well.
Let us not, therefore, forget what happened to humanity in 2022. Let us learn to remember dealing with crisis. Be nimble and never complacent, and have the resolve to deal with whatever comes our way.
Whatever happens, we will not let 2022 go gentle into that good night. Godspeed India.