Incova Investments

In Tier II towns like Rajapalayam where I live, people don’t invest enough time (or effort or cost) in logo creation. They would go to a printer - for letterheads, seal stamps, or business (“visiting”) cards - and a boy or girl there would type out the company’s name in a few different font types. They select one. Voila, the logo is done. (Yes, sometimes it’s more than enough).

Hence, I was in for a surprise when Kabhilan Sockalingam, an engineering graduate, from a nearby town (Sivakasi) approached me to create a logo “in a professional way”. He was setting up a firm that offers wealth management services (the business of recommending mutual funds and stocks to clients or investing in these financial products on their behalf).

I listened

First, I explained the logo creation process to Kabhilan. We met a couple of times in person in my office. We had a few telephonic conversations and mail exchanges. The purpose of the discussions was for me to learn about the core values and product/service differentiators of his startup - and to determine the ideas Kabhilan wanted to communicate.

Kabhilan planned to position his firm as a consulting firm. He would educate his customers, most of who may not know much about how Mutual Funds work or how to pick a stock in order to achieve their cherished financial goals. It was clear that the key differentiators were investor education and investing guidance.

The stock photo

There is this expert, and a novice investor. Maybe the logo could depict them or the two entities could be the inspiration for the logo. I sent Kabhilan a stock photo of a father and a son jumping together with joy.