Building scalable brands through data, design and strategy

With an MBA in Global Business & Investment Financial Services from the Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, USA, Rachana Nabar Deshpande’s career started with global financial institutions like Citibank as financial analyst intern, as a business analyst at ExcelaCom in Washington DC, as associate consultant with UBS Investment Bank in Stamford, Connecticut and as relationship manager and business analyst at HM Insurance Group in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Driven by a passion for marketing, design, and digital transformation, Rachana ventured into entrepreneurship in 2014 with the launch of AR Consulting Solutions, a firm then offering expert marketing and IT consulting solutions. She worked with a diverse mix of clients across F&B, retail, education, manufacturing, and professional services. From supporting local Goan businesses looking to sharpen their identity, to assisting out-of-state companies needing reliable marketing guidance, AR consulting grew through word-of-mouth and trusted relationships.

An investment banker turned digital marketer with over 20 years of global experience across the North America (USA and Canada), Middle East, Europe and India, Rachana worked in the corporate sector before entering into the entrepreneurship world, she was with UBS, handling projects that required working with cross functional teams across three continents – Asia-India, North America-USA and Europe-UK. While working with Excelacom, she was a project lead managing teams spread across India (Hyderabad) and Washington DC for various technical and development projects.

“My first job after relocating to India was with Golden Source – a New York based firm that worked within Data Mining and Data Warehousing within the financial domain, processing financial feeds from Bloomberg, Reuters. The major international banks are their clients. I was a project lead here and handled some European banking clients,” recalls Rachana who is heading AR and 9 Digits for the past nine years working with clients in these countries as well, on various marketing, branding and digital marketing solutions.

Rachana’s companies built e-commerce platforms for them and helped them scale through digital marketing. Some clients in the USA, Germany and UK received help in branding solutions – from logo design, corporate presentations and website design to marketing collateral for their promotional plans.

In early years, Rachana worked with a diverse mix of clients across F&B, retail, education, manufacturing, and professional services. From supporting local Goan businesses looking to sharpen their identity, to assisting out-of-state companies needing reliable marketing guidance, AR Consulting grew through word-of-mouth and trusted relationships.

One of the most important projects was the in-house school ERP WizSKool. It was a school ERP solution designed to automate admissions, logistics and administrative workflows for educational institutions. The idea was to bring transparency and automate the mundane tasks to bring higher efficiency. By 2016, wizskool Technology Solutions LLP was formed as a separate entity so it could grow independently, while AR Consulting transitioned into a more focused branding, design, and marketing studio.

Some of the early WizSKool clients included Happy Hearts Montessori in Porvorim and Goa College of Home Science in Panaji. While WizSKool eventually wound down, the experience transformed how Rachana understood product-building, user behaviour, and operational challenges — lessons that continue to shape her work in branding and digital strategy today.

Since 2016, it has focused its efforts on marketing, including brand creation, corporate presentations, content development, and graphic design services. AR Consulting Solutions has focused on marketing — from brand creation and corporate presentations to content development and marketing strategy.

Over the years, a diverse set of clients were helped to shape and strengthen their brand presence. Website design and maintenance as well as social media marketing for Pyro Electric Instruments helped them build a cleaner digital identity and communicate their technical expertise more effectively. Geno Sports Club was supported with marketing and branding for their cricket sports events in addition to consistent and engaging social media efforts. One of Rachana’s fulfilling projects was EDC Ignite, the coworking space launched in 2018 by EDC in Panaji. She worked end-to-end on their branding, website, social media, and print collaterals, ensuring a cohesive identity that positioned them as a fresh, contemporary workspace for young professionals and entrepreneurs.

The company ventured into social media when Mall De Goa in Porvorim was launched. Since then, they have associated with the other brands of Jai Bhuvan builders as well – like Orion hotel in Panaji and the restaurant in that hotel – Drunken Duck. Across all these collaborations, the goal has always been the same — to help clients communicate better, look more professional, and build brands that people remember. And watching them grow with that added clarity and confidence. “This is what I value the most,” Rachana quips.

In 2020, she founded 9 Digits Media, a full-spectrum digital marketing agency offering Digital Marketing Services including performance-driven SEO & SEM, Meta, Google, LinkedIn ads, lead generation funnels for high-intent conversions, digital PR, influencer collaborations, and reputation management, website & E-commerce development, responsive corporate websites and landing pages, custom e-commerce stores (Shopify, WooCommerce, custom builds) and UX/UI design, content architecture, and conversion-focused layouts.

Under the social media management sector, it offers end-to-end page handling for brands across industries, calendar planning, content creation, creative design, and community management and social media audits, competitor analysis, and engagement strategies. Consulting and strategy is offered for brand positioning and communication frameworks, marketing strategy for launch, scaling, and revenue growth as well as founder-personal-branding guidance.

Today, 9 Digits Media works with clients across education, real estate, hospitality, industry, and healthcare, with offices in Goa, Mumbai, and Pune, and a growing global footprint across the Middle East, Japan, Europe, and North America.

“Our mission has always been simple: to help businesses present themselves better, market smarter, and scale faster with digital-first strategies that actually work,” shares Rachana who is the winner of several awards for her achievements and leadership roles.

As a winner, Times Entrepreneur of Goa Award 2021 Rachana was honoured by The Times of India in association with the Department of Information & Publicity, Government of Goa. This award recognised the winners for their contribution to Goa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem through their work. This was the first year of this award and it celebrated Rachana’s role in building impactful ventures, empowering local businesses with modern marketing solutions, and creating employment opportunities in the creative and technology sectors.

She also bagged the second position at Business Diva Competition 2020 of GCCI Women’s Wing and was among the top 10 finalists at StartEdu Program (All India) by Unitus Seed Fund in 2015. This recognition placed Rachana among the country’s most promising early-stage education entrepreneurs in 2015.

“We had pitched for funding for our wiZSkool product. The StartEdu program by Unitus Seed Fund identifies and supports innovative, scalable solutions in the education sector. So being selected in the top 10 from applicants across India highlighted the strength, impact, and potential of our product wiZSkool, at the time. The program offered mentoring from leading investors, insights into building sustainable education-focused businesses, and access to a national network of founders and funders. Unfortunately, we did not win the final round. But being among the top 10 in the country for that opportunity meant a lot,” she adds.

Rachana also held the roles of president and vice-president at BNI Mathgram, focussing on running every meeting with clarity, structure, and energy, ensuring members consistently found opportunities to grow their business. Her priority was to create an environment where referrals flowed naturally, relationships strengthened, and members saw real measurable value. The focus was on business growth, to ensure the members maximize on their ROI on the BNI Investment. As vice president, she was responsible to ensure a healthy chapter growth by driving new member inductions, ensuring BNI policies were followed, and maintaining harmony within the group through timely conflict resolution. “One of my proudest moments was leading a record-breaking 9 inductions in a single meeting — the highest across the Goa region in 2023,” mentions Rachana, also a motivational speaker who has taken sessions for colleges and institutions on leadership, entrepreneurship and technology.