During an exclusive interview with CanadianSME, Muraly Srinarayanathas, the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of 369 Global, recounted his incredible journey as a serial entrepreneur driven by a passion for building and scaling businesses. Muraly shared his strategies for attracting and engaging a diverse audience, exemplified by his transformation of Computek College from 60 to 2,000 students—an impressive achievement. He emphasized the importance of market research and analysis in understanding different target demographics. Muraly also provided valuable insights into fostering an inclusive environment within organizations, which appeals to a wide range of customers. He candidly discussed the challenges he faced when scaling a business to attract a diverse audience and how he successfully overcame them. Lastly, Muraly offered practical steps for entrepreneurs and business leaders to ensure their ventures evolve in line with the changing needs and expectations of diverse audiences.
Muraly Srinarayanathas is a serial entrepreneur and global strategist. He serves as the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of 369 Global, an international group of companies in the education, finance, creative, entertainment, and venture capital sectors. Muraly is considered a specialist in consumer culture and the immigrant market, namely for his unique immigration journey, international experience, and rich data collection from the business entities he leads.
Muraly is the son of first-generation immigrant parents. He was born in the United Kingdom but spent much of his life unbounded by borders and lived in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. For over 25 years, he worked closely with immigrants in their local communities and built several successful businesses from the ground up across the globe.
Gleaned from his global experience, Muraly recognizes the power of diversity and the need for brands to prioritize both global consumer culture (GCC) and local consumer culture (LCC) principles to connect with diverse audiences. Whether it’s a local woman living in Kolkata, India, or an immigrant woman from Kolkata, India, living in Waterloo, Ontario, Muraly understands how organizations can leverage consumer insights to attract, communicate, and build long-term relationships with local and global audiences, and ultimately scale businesses from the ground up.
Muraly is a strong believer in the power of philanthropy and launched his first social purpose business under the guidance of Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He continues to apply a borderless perspective to bring diverse groups of people together around a common goal.
Muraly leads powerful initiatives that aim to create a sustainable and equitable future for all. As the Executive Chairman of 369 Global, he globalizes public and private sector leaders from around the world and forms partnerships to support local, national, and international growth. As the Chief Executive Officer of Computek College, a leading career college of 30+ years, Muraly helps train thousands of newcomers and immigrants to become job-ready and life-ready in Canada. Through 369Konnect, an integrated marketing agency, he helps brands attract and meaningfully connect with diverse consumers.
Because giving back is a core focus of the group, Muraly also helps protect and improve holistic outcomes for underrepresented global communities through the Srinarayanathas Foundation, a charitable foundation with a hundred-year legacy.
Can you share a bit about your background and journey as a serial entrepreneur? How did you develop a passion for building and scaling businesses?
I have had the good fortune of being mentored by a Nobel laureate, political leaders, and very successful business leaders but my very first mentor and the person who carved my path as an entrepreneur from an early age is my father. He showed me how to build a life without fear or doubt and have a vision for a future that I may not even be alive to see. Appa showed me from birth how to take a dream and make it a reality. He encouraged me to take strategic and calculated risks that quickly taught me I was good at building businesses and enjoyed doing it
One of your notable achievements is transforming Computek College from 60 to 2,000 students. What strategies did you employ to attract and engage such a diverse audience?
I am proud of how Computek has grown from 60 to 2,000 students a year but even if it grew from 60 to 61 students, I would be proud if we served our students in the right way. By that I mean looking at whether we empowered them and changed their lives while being culturally sensitive to their needs.
When I worked with Prof Yunus, I was so excited by his ideas I jumped to the task of creating a plan to help hundreds of people. When I shared my plan with him he said, ” Focus on one person first, put all your effort towards that one person and their positive experience will attract others.” That’s exactly how we grew Computek College.
In addition, much of this success is rooted in our three step proven process:
Embed
This means authentically inserting yourself into the communities you operate in to listen, learn, understand needs, prime prospects and their desires.
Interpret
Interpret is about looking at the information we learned during the “Embed” stage and interpreting that information from our own perspective and experiences. At Computek, we first embed ourselves in the communities we are serving, then interpret these observations and reflect on how we can take the needs of employers into account to fine tune our offering while keeping in mind our observations. Then and only then should we act.
Act
By interpreting and applying these insights we grew Computek significantly because we created an environment that was comfortable, welcoming and safe for diverse communities. They believed in us only after seeing we worked to understand their needs and circumstances to deliver the best education and resources possible.
Building a business that appeals to a diverse audience requires a deep understanding of their needs and preferences. How do you approach market research and analysis to gain insights into different target demographics?
It’s always a combination of qualitative and quantitative research. We often conduct studies and polls amongst key stakeholder groups and also glean insights from one-on-one interactions, active citizenship and work with community groups.
In today’s global marketplace, diversity and inclusivity have become key considerations for businesses. How can organizations foster an inclusive environment that appeals to a wide range of customers?
In North America we often focus on assimilation over adaptation but it’s not always strategic. Traditional western thought is only one of many perspectives and we have to remind ourselves of this.
The only way to become truly inclusive is to attract, employ and meaningfully engage a diverse team. This is a constant effort by the full team. When prospective hires and customers see a welcoming environment they can imagine being part of and an alignment of values, they begin to believe and want to contribute or collaborate. Many organizations don’t consider the many layers of this and how to market effectively. Ultimately you have to put in the work and be committed to learning and understanding what makes individuals and community groups feel seen and heard.
Scaling a business often requires adapting to different cultural contexts and market dynamics. Could you share an example of a challenge you faced while scaling a business to attract a diverse audience, and how you overcame it.
When I ran my telecommunications company, Priyo Communications, in London, England, I was new to the industry and had no experience with some of the cultures the company was serving so I walked the streets day and night to learn. I went to each shop that sold our SIM cards and watched the choices people made. Did they pick our product, if so why, if not, what product did they pick?
Although I was new to the industry, I used this to my advantage and did things differently which helped us stand out. We focused on markets our competitors did not consider. We encouraged our customers to use one cell phone instead of two which was the norm at the time. Finally we provided more value to our customers which initially came at a cost but later proved fruitful, we played the long game as opposed to focusing on short term wins.
Priyo grew from 200 users to 65,000 users in 2 years.
Diversity and inclusivity are ongoing efforts that require continuous improvement. What steps can entrepreneurs and business leaders take to ensure their ventures evolve with the changing needs and expectations of diverse audiences?
Definitely keep your finger on the pulse of global trends and government priorities while staying connected with key decision makers.
The federal government’s bold immigration targets are one key opportunity leaders should be aware of. We have an opportunity in front of us to welcome and train new Canadians to contribute to the economy and the jobs we need most. Tailoring communication efforts to the very different needs of the groups we hope to target is essential.
It’s also important to ensure the environment and culture that is created is truly inclusive. All team members should feel comfortable sharing ideas and providing constructive feedback.
At Computek College we do not charge international student fees though it is highly lucrative to do so. Most colleges charge international students three to four times more, but as immigrants and international students ourselves, able to understand related challenges and hardships this didn’t make sense.
This decision by our senior leadership team occurred because everyone felt comfortable sharing their perspective. We made a decision that matched the values of the type of college we want to be.
Finally, can you share any personal philosophies or guiding principles that have helped you navigate the challenges of building and scaling businesses to attract diverse audiences?
Absolutely. I focus on leading with kindness and empathy and working to get to know and truly understand the communities I operate in while applying global thinking to western business endeavours.
Believe, conceive, achieve is my mantra. Success is a mindset and my mindset has always been that it’s never about the outcomes but enjoying the journey you take to achieve those outcomes while honouring those who joined you for the ride. The most important thing is not to be distracted from your path because you are, ultimately – to quote “Invictus” – the master of your fate, the captain of your soul.
