Disability is just a perception: PR Signal founder Sumit Agarwal

The human spirit is one of ability, perseverance and courage. No disability can steal that away. As Stephen Hawkins puts it, “My advice to other disabled people would be to concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you from doing well, and don’t regret the things it does interfere with. Don’t be disabled in spirit as well as physically.”

Sumit Agarwal, the 28-year-old Kolkata-based PR entrepreneur, brings Stephen Hawkins’ inspiring words to life, by never allowing his physical disability to affect his spirit. Born with cerebral palsy, Sumit has a 70 per cent physical disability even after undergoing three major surgeries. However, he has flourished as a never-say-never champion fighter, and has completed his formal education with a PGDM in business administration and has started his journey as a successful public relations entrepreneur in Kolkata.

"I owe my entire success to my mother’s extraordinary grit and resolve,” says Sumit, as he outlines how she single-handedly braved the odds to ensure her son’s education in institutions for normal children. She endowed him with all the elements of special grooming required to fortify him emotionally and instill in him the confidence to make a difference in the world. Owed to his mother’s support and passion, Sumit has grown into a self-effacing professional, with no trace of the inferiority complexes that used to pull him back in his early boyhood. 

Sumit Agarwal today is on the fast track as an acclaimed entrepreneur in the public relations industry in India. He has also established himself as a spokesperson of his fraternity, determined to see the disabled integrated into the mainstream. Founding his well-established platform as a motivational speaker and inclusion-rights activist, he has founded the Indian Disabled Entrepreneurs Forum, and portrays disability as a gift which challenges people to become stronger. Sumit also founded the public relations agency PR Signal, which provides holistic and customised solutions to the market-sensitive needs of his growing clientele. He focuses on providing an innovative approach to clients’ needs and projects, thus building up an exemplary service portfolio through driving the successful image management for a plethora of brands.

PR Signal has handled the strategy-driven publicity of diverse events including Digi-Ability 2018, TiECON 2018, Siege Art & Wine Carnival, Elite Conclave Launch Party, Inclov Social Spaces, and Hair Pro Product Launch, besides formulating PR planning for special NGOs such as Kalyani Life Institute, Shishur Sevay, Artemis Foundation, etc.

Sumit’s penchant for employing noble techniques to maximize the gains from every project he undertakes is a striking attribute that gives him additional mileage, and the industry takes notice of this. Sumit Agarwal has closely worked with celebrated personalities like Sandeep Marwah, founder of Noida Film City, and Sujata Mukherjee, communications and soft-skills coach.

His vast success in the public relations industry does not quench his thirst for new challenges, and Sumit uses his wealth of expertise in specializing the art and technique of managing non-profit organisations as well. His association with top-notch organisations in various capacities, such as Rotary International, Newspapers Association of India (NAI), Public Relations Society of India (PRSI), International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO), and Rotary Means Business (RMB), among many others, keeps adding to his confidence and capabilities. He sees it as an ‘extra-edge’ which enables him to see things differently. Naturally, his PR agency PR Signal reaps the rewards of his associations and keeps its wheels of growth on the right track, if not the fast track.

Through all of professional associations and attachments, Sumit Agarwal holds PRSI with high esteem. In his sentiments, “I have learnt a lot from this apex body of public relations professionals. I still get to learn about the crucial dynamics of deeper connectivity with people across all strata, and the importance of the story of every individual that you come into contact with. It is important to reinvent oneself continually, and you should ensure that every assignment challenges your limits.” He emphatically explores ways to grow and lead a life enriched with a broader worldview, and he is determined in spreading the message that “Disability is just a perception, and any individual can overcome the physical disability and make-up for what it lacks with a strong work ethic and a high-striving and positive spirit.”

Sumit knows for certain that public relations, in this complex time of omnipresent marketing warfare, has adapted to the digital age and demands non-stop innovations. “Over the past decade, the advent and obliteration of technologies at neck breaking speed, split second connectivity through Internet, and the exponential rise in the use of social media has become the global mainstream. It asks for ‘no-nonsense’ professionalism. We have to be more prepared than ever before to live up to the task. We also have to be ahead of our time and be spot-on in identifying the upcoming trends. News, real and fake, is spreading like wild fire and gets viral before even the batting of an eyelid. All these and much more are testing our worth, our intelligence, skill set, intellectual flexibility and professional resolve for accomplishing a given task.” he comments. While saying this, he gave a hearty thumbs-up to the digital age he belongs to. As the age in question has unleashed an unprecedented matrix of engaging brand communication, he concluded with a snapshot of his business fundamentals:  “PR Signal treats all types of clients – including start-ups, non-profit organisations, individuals, and corporates, with the same level of respect and same degree of commitment. Size does not matter to us.  We are focused on the quality of our services within every budgetary ambit.  After all, quality speaks volumes of one’s self esteem, and for you, quality is all that matters at the end.”

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