For someone from Nalbari (Assam) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics, higher education was the next logical step, or maybe even taking up a settled 9 to 5 job. But not for Chinmoy Sharma, co-founder of Navi Mumbai-based digital start-up Eerlik Media. From Nalbari to faraway Navi Mumbai, this is Chinmoy’s story.

Chinmoy (His Twitter handle is – imChinmoy18) first ventured into social media in 2014 when he created his Twitter account to cheer for his favourite cricketer Virat Kohli. It was during this year that Chinmoy discovered the potential of social media.

He persevered and studied the inner workings of social media businesses. Somewhere along the way, he was tempted to transform his social media skills into a profession. He was inspired by many he met on the same platforms. So, he started to work towards it diligently.

Chinmoy was able to grow his social media outreach significantly in 2015-17. In the year 2017, he was thrilled when he was offered social media collaboration with a brand. This event gave him the validation he had been seeking so far. He continued his work as a social media influencer till 2018. During this period, he went beyond the glamorous front-end and worked to deeply understand marketing in the age of social media.

Finally, in 2018, Chinmoy’s life direction was set to change again. This was the time when he met his current business partner. The two seemed to gel almost instantly. They shared thoughts, ideologies, and the same creative vision. In two months since they had first met, they decided to start a venture called Eerlik Media. In the Afrikaans language, the word ‘Eerlik’ means “honourable” or “honest”. They chose the name for the company because they wanted it to reflect their honest, transparent services.

Eerlik Media caters to corporate firms, political clients, and companies. The start-up offers promotional projects, runs social media campaigns, and helps in building digital reputations. Eerlik offers a wide range of services like Social Media Strategy, Influencer Marketing, Social Media promotion, Content Writing, Graphic Design, and Web Design services.

Chinmoy had to assuage his family’s doubts, being the first person in his family to work in this ‘unconventional sector’. He had to explain his choice of profession initially to his parents and well-wishers, but when they saw his conviction and methodical plan of action, they came on board.

Chinmoy believes that if one has a passion for the field, then everything is possible. No achievement is out of reach. His mantra is “Stop Complaining”. No matter how difficult the going gets, Chinmoy believes in finding the solution. Challenges do not go away with time, but we only learn to handle them better.

For Chinmoy, the journey from Nalbari to Navi Mumbai was not easy. But if you ask him, he tells you, smilingly: “I am just getting started”.