Sandesh Mishra: Bringing Years Of Expertise To Steer Bima Garage Towards Growth
Sandesh Mishra
Co-Founder & CEO
Bima Garage is India's leading insurance service provider, committed to promoting trust and transparency in the country's health insurance ecosystem. Sandesh Mishra, Bima Garage's Co-Founder and CEO, is a visionary who has led some of India's most successful healthcare companies. In an exclusive conversation with CEO Insights, Sandesh spoke about Bima Garage's great path and the hurdles that the team faced while creating the company.
Give us brief details about your professional background. Also, how are you leveraging the best of your experience across your Company's operations?
I have headed some of the most successful teams in the Indian Healthcare industry with over 18 years of expertise in the insurance industry. In addition, I was in charge of a team of over 300 individuals and a network of over 10,000 channel partners. Because of my skills in team building, aggressive sales, and great recruitment & training methods, I am considered a one of a kind leader. My significant on-the-ground experience has given me unrivalled networking and deep, micro-level business knowledge. Speaking about my role at Bima Garage, I take care of the market research, team building and leadership.
Garage,I take care of the market research, team building and leadership.
We realized that everyone was selling health insurance and that all
new insurance startups were structured on selling insurance while working in the health insurance industry for more than a decade at the senior management level.It was extensively noted and acknowledged during our different encounters with colleagues and CEOs of various insurance firms, advisors, banks, and insurance brokers that claim servicing is vast. When Devang and I first started working on the idea in December 2017, we used to finish our daily routines at the office and then meet at the municipal garden to scribble down ideas on paper on how to address the above problem by creating the first ever business model and organization solely focused on claims servicing and the integration of the health care ecosystem.
We decided to run a poll after our brain storming to determine the viability of the business on the ground and whether or not our real clients would be willing to pay for such services. Hemant, our third founding member, went out to meet clients in the field. Our first study was conducted at Tristar Hospital in Surat with Dr Shiv Narayan Kalia, who was so taken with the concept that he made it one of the hospital's must have services to improve customer experience and cash flow with payment reconciliation.
What were the challenges that taught you the basic lessons of managing diversified functions of large organizations? Also, how did you manage to achieve the success that you had in the later phase?
Covid-19 attacked just as we were about to celebrate our second anniversary on June 19, 2020. Suddenly, the entire world was flipped upside down, and every company's situation deteriorated. Our business came to a halt as a result of the disruption. Clients (hospitals) were mystified by frequent changes in treatment regimens, cash flow constraints, and poor patient flow, and there were everyday challenges on the work front, including personnel retention. We went back to the ideation stage for this and spent sleepless nights juggling between our existing desk business retention, expansion, and coming up with a unique product direct for customer claim servicing
On our second anniversary, we released the product on June 19, 2020, and within the first month of its availability, 1000 consumers had registered for claims services on our portal
We decided to run a poll after our brain storming to determine the viability of the business on the ground and whether or not our real clients would be willing to pay for such services. Hemant, our third founding member, went out to meet clients in the field. Our first study was conducted at Tristar Hospital in Surat with Dr Shiv Narayan Kalia, who was so taken with the concept that he made it one of the hospital's must have services to improve customer experience and cash flow with payment reconciliation.
What were the challenges that taught you the basic lessons of managing diversified functions of large organizations? Also, how did you manage to achieve the success that you had in the later phase?
Covid-19 attacked just as we were about to celebrate our second anniversary on June 19, 2020. Suddenly, the entire world was flipped upside down, and every company's situation deteriorated. Our business came to a halt as a result of the disruption. Clients (hospitals) were mystified by frequent changes in treatment regimens, cash flow constraints, and poor patient flow, and there were everyday challenges on the work front, including personnel retention. We went back to the ideation stage for this and spent sleepless nights juggling between our existing desk business retention, expansion, and coming up with a unique product direct for customer claim servicing
and existing policy benefits, with a larger and long term idea of creating a community of Insurance and HR professionals. This is how our most ambitious product,'HobNob', came to be. On our second anniversary, we released the product on June 19, 2020, and within the first month of its availa bility, 1000 consumers had registered for claims services on our portal.
And, amid such a difficult moment as Covid-19, our investor showed great faith in us by supporting our proposal for a second round of investment for HobNob, making us one of the fortunate businesses to get funding.
Can you tell us about the unique features you offer and the other services that give you an edge over your competitors in this industry? Also, throw some light on your deliverables.
Bima Garage is a two-year-old company with a young and active crew. We hope to bring about a much needed change in the insurance business by bridging the gaps between hospitals patients, and insurance companies and our incubators are NMIMS and ATAL Incubation Center. Team Bima Garage was named the Most Promising StartUp in the Healthcare Industry by Dr. Girdhar Gyani. Bima Garage is the first complete solution supplier in the healthcare business for seamless Cashless & Reimbursement claims. Bima Garage works with its associated hospitals and is presently available in eight cities.
We are focused on building solutions that can establish the much needed trust & transparency in the insurance and healthcare system. Some of our solutions include HobNob our iconic one stop shop solution for every hassle related to insurance with comprehensive services, BG Desk Application that enhances Cashless Claim Processing service, Hob Nob Desk that offers end-to-end reimbursement claim service to in hospital patients, and CPC a pay per use service for hospitals which is a remote variant of BG Desk.
Sandesh Mishra, Co-Founder & CEO, Bima Garage
With over 18 years'experience in Insurance field, Sandesh is a leader who has helmed some of the highest performing teams in the Indian healthcare sector. He has effortlessly managed a team of over 300 while simultaneously juggling a network of 10,000+ channel partners. His wizardry with team building, aggressive sales and effective ways for recruitment and training make him a unique leader. He has unmatched networking and deep, micro level market insights that come only with a wide, rich experience on the ground.
And, amid such a difficult moment as Covid-19, our investor showed great faith in us by supporting our proposal for a second round of investment for HobNob, making us one of the fortunate businesses to get funding.
Can you tell us about the unique features you offer and the other services that give you an edge over your competitors in this industry? Also, throw some light on your deliverables.
Bima Garage is a two-year-old company with a young and active crew. We hope to bring about a much needed change in the insurance business by bridging the gaps between hospitals patients, and insurance companies and our incubators are NMIMS and ATAL Incubation Center. Team Bima Garage was named the Most Promising StartUp in the Healthcare Industry by Dr. Girdhar Gyani. Bima Garage is the first complete solution supplier in the healthcare business for seamless Cashless & Reimbursement claims. Bima Garage works with its associated hospitals and is presently available in eight cities.
We are focused on building solutions that can establish the much needed trust & transparency in the insurance and healthcare system. Some of our solutions include HobNob our iconic one stop shop solution for every hassle related to insurance with comprehensive services, BG Desk Application that enhances Cashless Claim Processing service, Hob Nob Desk that offers end-to-end reimbursement claim service to in hospital patients, and CPC a pay per use service for hospitals which is a remote variant of BG Desk.
Sandesh Mishra, Co-Founder & CEO, Bima Garage
With over 18 years'experience in Insurance field, Sandesh is a leader who has helmed some of the highest performing teams in the Indian healthcare sector. He has effortlessly managed a team of over 300 while simultaneously juggling a network of 10,000+ channel partners. His wizardry with team building, aggressive sales and effective ways for recruitment and training make him a unique leader. He has unmatched networking and deep, micro level market insights that come only with a wide, rich experience on the ground.