Adding sizzle to sports

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Classy, confident and committed, Kavita Bhupati-Chadda’s enthusiasm and zeal for work travels right through the phone line when we speak to her.

Sister of ace tennis star Mahesh Bhupati and CEO of sports and entertainment marketing management agency, Globosport, her passion for what she does is contagious.

But before you think that the cushy job fell right into the entrepreneur’s lap, she’s quick to correct, “Globosport is Mahesh’s baby, but it’s not like I was handed over the position overnight. I started off as a celebrity manager in 2005.

I had just returned from the US after getting an MBA degree and wasn’t exactly sure of what I wanted to pursue. Mahesh proposed that I start working for his company in the lowest capacity.

Yes, I was lucky to have the opportunity, but Mahesh wanted me to get my hands dirty,” says the little sister adding, “We were managing Sania Mirza’s account then.

It was the time when she was being seen as the next big thing in Indian sports. Working closely with Sania for endorsements was a rather interesting start to my career too.”

The nature of the company has taken a quite a turn since it’s inception. What started of as a celebrity management company is today far from it.

Carefully choosing her words she says, “Managing celebrities has its own set of challenges (we’re guessing it’s the tantrums). Being from a sports family, I wasn’t really cut out to deal with the functioning of the glamour world,” she says.

Though she has taken over the company as CEO, Kavita makes it clear that her brother is the captain of the ship. “It’s his vision. He takes all the big decisions. I execute the plans and manage operations,” she adds.

So were sports never a part of her plan? “It’s a joke in my family how I haven’t spared a single sport but never took up anything seriously.

Although I have to admit that when I visit Wimbledon or watch Mahesh burn the turf I do regret not pursuing it very seriously.”