Krishna Lakkineni – ROI Media Works

Lincoln Smith and Krishna Lakkineni at the TRU entrepreneur panel.

 
By: Ryan Turcot

Within the past four years, the man behind digital marketing firm ROI Media Works has grown into a Kamloops success story, created career opportunities for TRU graduates, and become an active volunteer and mentor in the community.

Back when he lived in England, Lakkineni helped create world-class digital marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 clients. A job offer prompted him to move to Canada in 2008, but he became his own boss and founded ROI Media Works in 2010 with a specific goal in mind: “package a campaign that we use for Fortune 500 companies to a small business,” he said.

“When I moved to Canada, I didn’t have a lot of money, but I didn’t have anything to lose. I worked for a year and a half, then looked at the wide market and noticed that nobody had really specialized in digital campaigns. That was where my core skills were. It was like playing on a hockey field without a goalie.”

Even so, he faced an uncertainty he was unaccustomed to in the beginning. “It was challenging to believe in myself,” he said. “I had built teams as a department manager before, but I had never done the human resources part of running a business, or the sales part, or the other pillars of a business. So those were the things I learned during my first six months.” He also noted that being an international immigrant added a layer of complexity to his endeavor.

In ROI Media Works’s early phase, Krishna was the firm’s sole employee. Six months in he began hiring TRU graduates as project managers, web developers and account managers. During one summer, he employed and mentored a co-op student, who went on to pursue a successful digital career with SAP, an internationally-recognized software company.

Lakkineni said his company has consistently seen 30 to 40 per cent annual increases in financial growth on average, and his client base has grown steadily over the years too.

“We have a lot of small clients, but we’re also building an agency that works with bigger brands,” he explained. “Right now we’re working with clients like Arrow Transportation—they’re a huge company—and we’ve worked with iCompass in the past. One of our biggest clients is a top-ten Toyota dealership in Calgary.”

Moving forward, he has his sights set on even larger clients. “Eventually, I want to see Media Works working on projects for companies like Apple, Nike or Rogers,” he explained.

More importantly, however, he said he wants to inspire others to learn from his experiences and do something for themselves.

“I’m not in it for the money. I’m in it to make a difference as a corporation. I want to create a sustainable company where employees are happy, clients are getting results, and stakeholders are getting their return on investment,” he explained.

Lakkineni gives back to his community through his extensive volunteerism and mentorship. He serves on the board of directors for both the TRU Alumni & Friends Association and the ICCHA Wish Fund for the Royal Inland Hospital.

Recently, he shared his experiences with aspiring entrepreneurs at TRU’s Career Mentoring Entrepreneurship Panel event.

“You start and end life with nothing, but knowledge you leave behind,” Krishna Lakkineni said.