Imagine you are sitting in a hall of around 300-400 people. You know some of them. The host has provided you with a drum. You don’t know how to play it but the facilitator is going to get you drumming. You are going to drum with your group or acquaintances or even strangers and for long time! I can sense that smile on your face. Now, adding few more things…The host will also teach you management skills, organizational space, branding and innovation, co-relating group dynamics with group drumming. Now tell us, how that sounds! Well, this isn’t a fairy tale or an urban fantasy. This happens in real. Meet the man – Rujul Hemant Vora who makes this happen!
Rujul Vora is the founder and facilitator of “The Drum Circle” located in Ahmedabad.
THE DRUM CIRCLE
““Drum circle” is a concept where people of diverse walks of life can come and drum together without any technical knowhow of music. The drums are provided by us and it is a facilitated session by me”.
Rujul Vora
“Drumcircles can be done for various purposes and occassions – from wedding celebrations where both the sides – bride and the groom celebrate with their family and friends drumming together and on the corporate end, where I facilitate high-power drumming sessions and co-relate aspects of management, organizational space, branding and innovation with the act of group drumming”, adds Rujul.
He has facilitated corporate team-building drumcircles for popular organizations like – KPMG (Ahmedabad), EY, Apttus India, Arvind Ltd, Amnex infotechnologies, Zydus Cadila, HDFC Ltd, DCB Bank, YES Bank, Ahmedabad District Election Commission, Aga Khan Development Foundation and many more.
Rujul has facilitated about 200+ Drumcircles since 2014; making more than 30,000 people drum till date!!!
THE BACKGROUND
Rujul has pursued his Diploma in Liberal education with majors in Entrepreneurship from FLAME University, Pune. Then he completed his Masters in Business Design from Domus Academy, Milan, Italy.
“My undergraduation has been the best. It was more of developing a philosophy of learning than learning per se. I got exposure to more than 60 subjects from diverse fields while pursuing my undergraduation at the FLAME University which gave me a holistic way of looking at life”, says Rujul
Rujul is a NLP Practitioner and completed his certified training from NFNLP USA.
DRUMMING AND RUJUL’S UNBEATABLE ENERGY
“I do my Drumcircles absolutely spontaneous, even if it means doing a corporate session of 2 hours for 300 people, I don’t prepare for it!”, says Rujul.
Rujul adds, “I thoroughly believe in the idea of intention, visualization and manifestation. I don’t focus on competition. Everyone has their own uniqueness. Mine is my unbeatable energy and my knowledge of diverse subjects.”
Rujul believes that his total spontaneity, diverse knowhow of subjects and most importantly, his connect with his participants are his biggest advantage over his rivals / competitions.
DRUMMING AS BUSINESS: THE IDEA
Rujul says, “It was random and then just followed my heart and that’s just what I’ve been doing till date.”
It took two months for Rujul to start from conceptualization of his business to actually launching it in the market. He has been consistently pointing at one thing throughout our conversation-
“I believe it is most important to start, rest is journey…”
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
I usually have Corporates and Academic Organizations as my clients. I have about 20-400 participants at once depending upon the event type.
- Celebration Drumcircles — Drumming with family and friends during celebrations, like — weeding, birthdays, anniversaries etc.
- Corporate Drumcircles — Super — powerful and energetic team — building drumcircles, talking about — communication, innovation, work—life balance and more.
- Drumcircles for branding — A brand launch with a drumcircle.
Rujul is growing slowly. He focuses on promotion by word of mouth and social media platforms like – Facebook and Instagram. He also relies on previous participants and WhatsApp.
“I take feedback after every programme / session. I measure productivity by the feedback that I receive from my clients; of how they think it benefited them”, says Rujul.
THE DRUM CIRCLE AND THE TEAM
Anyone can join Drumcircle team if they posses following:
- Passion
- Integrity
- Discipline
- Basic sense of rhythm
- Self-motivated
We do not have a fixed office. The team for Drumcircle gathers based on the pre-decided ratio of participants and co-facilitators.
It is mandatory to monitor the team members for overall team performance. “I check their discipline and their involvement during the Drumcircles and keeping a check on their actions to get an idea of their involvement quotient”, says Rujul.
“We are FRIENDS – internally and TEAM – externally and DISCIPLINE is a no-compromise factor…”
Well, we should join you Rujul; we have everything you want! 😀
THE DRUM CIRCLE AND FUTURE
Currently am based in Ahmedabad. I want to expand it to other cities in near future. I also plan to setup my business in London & New York in upcoming days. Ten years down the lane, Rujul sees himself continuing doing Drumcircles in India and abroad (UK & US).
“My larger goal or vision is to create a world record maybe with number of participants drumming at the same time or it will be duration or both. Fingers crossed!”
Rujul is ready for a collaboration guys. Do contact him and join his venture and enjoy drumming!!!
“I am absolutely open to collaboration if the analysis of benefits seems fair and viable.”
DRUMMING: CHALLENGES AND JOURNEY SO FAR
We ask Rujul some tough questions. We believe these questions give some of the best answers. See what Rujul replied…
Q1. What was the most challenging part of your journey till now? How did you overcome those challenges?
A. To explain Drumcircles as a corporate teambuilding activity. It took quite a while, but it was our duty to make people aware and we’ve been successful in doing so.
Q2. Which was the boldest decision you ever made to have this venture work?
A. To start
Q3. Whom do you consider your idol or biggest motivator?
A. My dad – he has explored life beyond his CA degree, taken risks and grown with his sense of focus and discipline.
Q4. Who invested in your Business? Did you raise any external funding? If yes, provide as much as details you can.
A. It was funded by my father and I paid back on time with interest.
Q5. Do you consider yourself a hardworking person or a smart person? Tell something more on it (if any).
A. Absolutely! Moreover others consider me as hardworking actually. Basically when we do something we love, they are just steps forward and not hardwork per-se.
Q6. How do you find a balance between work family and social life?
A. I don’t consider them as separate, hence there is no need to balance, it happens quite easily. If our PM can do multiple things at this age in the same 24hrs, we are nothing. It’s all about having clarity and make quick and apt decisions.
Q7. How do you spend your time outside work?
A. Eating, meeting friends, watching movies, may be writing sometimes.
Q8. Would you rather be good at a lot of things or an expert at one thing?
A. Best at one thing and good at other things.
Q9. Tell us something you are learning right now. What are the books you have read so far which has helped you a lot?
A. (learning) Tai-Chi. Watching videos for now. I am not at all an avid reader. Hardly read.
Q10. Share about Awards and Recognition you received
A. Been a TEDx opening speaker at TEDx Surat 2017; Youngest to be felicitated by the Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Vijay Rupani in 2018 as the ‘Pride of Gujarat‘.
Q11. Do you consider yourself successful and by what means do you measure success?
A. Yes. I feel fulfilled, hence I consider myself successful. And success to me means feeling ‘fulfilled.
Q12. What advice you want to give to Young Entrepreneurs/Startups?
A. Once you find what you love, start asap. Don’t go too deep into planning. Food is good when eaten fresh, then you know how much more salt you need to add.
Q13. How do you support Startups? Have you invested in any Startup?
A. By urging them to start. No, haven’t invested in any startups.
Contact Mr. Rujul Vora
| Phone/Mobile | +91 98985 69565 |
| thedrumcircle@gmail.com | |
| Website | www.thedrumcircle.in |
| YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/thedrumcirclevdo |
| https://in.linkedin.com/in/rujulv/ | |
| https://www.instagram.com/thedrumcircle_/ |
