Can you tell us more about ANDRA PR and what inspired you to start the business?

I started Andra Public Relations in January 2018. I’ve been so grateful to have come this far and to have worked with various clients including FinTech startups, leading banks, governmental institutions, and more. Andra Public Relations is a Bahrain-based Public Relations & Corporate Communications firm that specializes in Strategy, Digital Communications, Media Relations & Training, Community Relations, and CSR Development. The company primarily focuses on Financial Technology, Startups, and other governmental sectors.

I wanted to tackle a niche in the industry integrating my experience in Public Relations and Financial Technology. It’s a dynamic sector, and it keeps evolving making it really exciting to work alongside innovative organizations and SMEs to highlight their message and push their innovations in the market. In addition, we are supporting in creating a voice for the FinTech scene in Bahrain by involving regional and global FInTech corporates and creating news and content for other markets to be aware of what is happening in the Kingdom.

Our core is focused on creating strategic campaigns and smart content that allows companies to not only gain empty exposure but craft their story in a way that consumers can see them as thought leaders, and understand their purpose. We embed depth and value into what we do. We are now expanding our network regionally, and creating media partnerships plus expanding into new sectors slowly.

What are the challenges of starting a PR company then when you started, and now with the COVID crisis? How are you guys dealing with these challenges?

Before starting Andra PR, I was already in the PR space working for a global PR company for almost 4 years so I had a base to start from, and I had good relationships.

However, the challenge was to introduce my own company and making sure that the message on what separates us from other PR firms in the region was evident.

I made a plan to emphasize that image and had a reasonable timeline to gain clients and get feedback on my solo consulting before taking any big steps. I had to be patient and gain the trust of prospective clients and the media for my individual venture. Of course, the second challenge was thinking about how to run a business from a logistical standpoint but that got easier with time.

COVID-19 has been a curse with a silver lining for us. We were impacted like every other business, and things slowed down for us but we took that as an opportunity to test and trial new activities we haven’t done before. We personalized and connected with our clients and prospective companies differently, explored virtual events (Well we had to for this one!) focused on our social platforms, and we enjoyed this experience quite a bit. We noted down what worked and what didn’t. What did work though turned it all around for us in the past two months – we gained new clients, we collaborated with regional and global platforms and focused on how we can give back to the community as well.

You have exited a successful corporate job to found ANDRA PR? What made you want to shift? How did you know it’s the right time?

I sat down with myself one night and laid out all the skills I had gained, and realized that most of these skills are ones I can do myself. I even wrote down all the possibilities that I can give birth to if I opened my own firm and they outweighed the negatives and fears I had about this move. I wanted to do more, and I felt limited so I wanted to remove these barriers, and I had to leave and kickstart my solo journey to make that happen.

You have to really understand what your true skills are, and you have the opportunity to test that out yourself. I got feedback from several people and volunteered to consult and see the impact. Once I realized that I can do this on my own, then it naturally felt like the right time.

What were the lessons that starting ANDRA PR taught you?

I learned several key lessons:

• To be patient. No one is chasing you, and you need to have a reasonable timeline.
• Don’t attach your journey to someone else. You will lose and burn out that way. Most people compare themselves to another person’s successful end but you need to look at their beginnings to learn how resilient they are
• Create a balance. Work hard but also enjoy – people think they need to always be working to succeed. That’s not true. You need to incentivize yourself by focusing on your health, by traveling and etc. so you can do more.

What advice can you give to aspiring entrepreneurs and startups?

First, have a conversation with yourself and know what you are good at. Second, look for inspiration but create your own journey because everyone is different, and people want different things. Let your unique perspective be embedded in what you do, or say. The last thing – support other people and contribute to interesting projects or campaigns because when you meet new people–you learn a lot about yourself.