Motivation is a key ingredient for success in one’s professional life. The desire to bring about a positive change while doing the right thing is the biggest motivation. This helps the person to commit themselves to what they wish to achieve in their career.
“I am sure not everything works like a user manual. We do face challenges through our journey, but it is our motivation and the hunger to achieve the goal that pushes
us to look beyond the hurdles,” says Kshitij Garg, Managing Director of Estero New Zealand. Estero is a New Zealand registered entity that focuses on New Zealand as a primary study destination. Unlike its competitors who deal with multiple institutions across multiple destinations, the organization is focused on well-reputed institutions from New Zealand.
“We focus on acting as education consultants and not as education agents,” states the team of Estero. Its objective is to help students choose a career path that matches their skills and future goals. While doing this, the organization ensures that they stay ethical in its approach towards the selection of a particular institution or a particular program. “If the person is motivated to achieve something in life, they make sure they are always on the course of their journey and are never afraid of the hindrances that come their way,” Kshitij adds further.
Kshitij started as an international student and the biggest motivation to start Estero was due to experience of his initial days of application process for New Zealand and Australian universities. Despite having good academic scores and a sound financial background, he faced countless challenges dealing with education consultants, initiation and completion of admission process, preparing for his journey to New Zealand as well as the transition to a completely new world. It was a daunting task. “My experience of studying at a top-ranked world university and consequently working for the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise helped me to understand the overseas education sector,” states Kshitij.
A Dynamic Leader
Kshitij was able to identify the key factors that make this industry holistic for an international student, an institution as well as the government. Putting this experience together he decided to assist young minds with making a sound career move that works in their best interest. With this ideology in mind, education consulting turned out to be a well thought profession for him and a relevant industry to be a part of.
He is a keen observer and always in search of finding more effective ways to support the
processes and the operations carried out at Estero. “Working through the changes is a very satisfying feeling,” shares Kshitij. His experience of more than ten years in this industry has taught him to lead by example, manage a team of people coming from varied backgrounds, and most importantly, to be a good listener. He always looks at things from a fresh perspective and tries to find a valuable opportunity for the clients keeping in mind the sensitivity of the task at hand. This has always helped him in ensuring that the clients succeed in their careers/professions.
About Estero
Overseas education is an ever-changing sector that keeps Estero’s team involved or occupied 24×7. The programs, skills in demand, immigration policies keep changing and hence to keep up, the organization remains constantly in contact with its stakeholders. Apart from this, dealing with young minds gives the team at Estero a fresh perspective about the sector’s demands and the need to adapt to the changing business environment. The opportunity to travel, explore different cities across the globe for education fairs, workshops, B2B events is always the cherry on top. “The most satisfying and rewarding part of our work that always keeps us motivated is to see our students/clients succeed academically as well as professionally,” describes Kshitij.
Today, when the internet has brought the world closer, the organization constantly keeps
incorporating technology in its day to day operations. This includes using social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, etc., for marketing, arranging webinars to build client engagement, participating in virtual fairs, and so on. “Technology has helped us work more efficiently, ensuring accountability at the same time,” states the team of Estero.
“Our experience dealing with students from South Asia has made us believe that students largely follow a ‘trend’ when it comes to choosing their country, course and/or university to study in,” explains Kshitij. He continues to mention that sometimes it is a challenging task to motivate the clients to understand that not everything works for everyone and it is advisable that individual requirements and objectives should be kept in mind. But, the organization’s approach is very simple. “Be honest, give clients enough time, hear them out and then build a strategy with them to fill the gap between where they stand and what they wish to achieve,” Kshitij admits, this has been a very successful strategy for Estero. It demands patience and hence the organization has a robust team of professionals that are well prepared to customise their approach as per every student’s requirements.
What the Future Holds….
Now, Estero under the leadership of Kshitij is working towards expanding its network of channel partners and network of branches across India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Apart from this, the organisation is working towards making the entire process of student recruitment very transparent, informative as well as engaging for all its stakeholders. Estero New Zealand is currently looking to identify other value chains to reach out to the maximum audience to create awareness about studying in New Zealand.
“I would advise the future generation to make informed decisions,” says Kshitij. The current
student population makes two very common mistakes. First, being too reliant on education consultants and trusting them blindly. A student should do their part of the research and ask the right questions to the consultant. They are there to assist them to reach the final decision and not to make a decision on the student’s behalf. Secondly, student should never follow the trend. They should analyse what country, program and university best works for them and pursue their decision tailor made to their aspirations. On the contrary, students generally end up being in a university, country or a program that their friend/family member has studied in before.
Finally, advising the young minds Kshitij concludes, “Followers make a noise, while leaders
make a change. Be a leader and not a follower. Do your research, understand your capabilities, set yourself a professional goal and work towards it.”
If you would like to get in touch with the team to discuss about your study and career options in New Zealand, you can contact them by email: info@estero.co.nz
Website: www.estero.co.nz,
Office Locations: New Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Colombo and Kathmandu.