Lingzel Enterprises CEO Gautam Kangjam is a man with unique ideas in the realm of entrepreneurship. Manipur has started to witness many budding entrepreneurs and Gautam Kangjam is one of them. Recently, he has launched a unique company and an app called ‘My Manipur Trip’. There are many travel agencies in Manipur but there has never been a venture like ‘My Manipur Trip’. It is a certified company from IATA Authorization providers. Gautam Kangam is the MD of MMT, Aheibam Anandi Devi is the Office Manager of MMT, Sneha Nongmaithem is the Corporate Travel Consultant of MMT and Anand Kumar Deepak Singh Wahengbam is the Corporate Travel Consultant of MMT. Their office is at Ghari Mamang Leikai, next to Mahindra Showroom, near Bir Tikendrajit International airport, Imphal, Manipur.
The app specializes in flight bookings, hotel bookings, small group tours and customized tours all over the globe just like popular Indian travel apps such as Make My Trip or Ease My Trip app provide. The unique thing about this app is that apps like these are popular in all parts of the world and in India but it is the first time which was launched in Manipur. The best part is that one doesn’t need to hassle about visa works for any foreign country one wants to travel to. They can download the My Manipur Trip app on their smartphones and that’s it. All the works related to any kind of travel, business or pleasure along with visa works will be done by My Manipur Trip. When FPSJ Review interviewed Gautam Kangjam and asked what is their mission and vision for My Manipur Trip, he said it was “to serve clients with enhanced travel experience by providing quality services that addresses their needs through the most efficient arrangement so that the customers would be satisfied to the maximum…”.
Before the pandemic blew us off like a tsunami, many foreigners were seen in Manipur. Travel for leisure is off since March 2020. The services provided by Linzel is not only useful for foreigners but also for Indians and the locals too. It is a two-way access app. Foreigners can use the app to get to Manipur and explore Manipur in safety, as Gautam Kangjam assures me and the locals can use the app to travel to other parts of India and abroad.
The My Manipur Trip app includes services such as Money transfer, Air-ticketing, Rail-ticketing, Bus-ticketing, Mobile and DTH Recharging, Bill payments, Hotel Booking, Car-renting, Insurance, cash and card services, Holiday packages and Visa processing. Gautam Kangjam informed FPSJ Review that the My Manipur App is a ‘Business to Customer’ portal and soon they will be starting with a ‘Business to Business’ portal to where agents can also make profit out of the business model.
Lingzel Enterprises Private Limited’s My Manipur Trip’s “Explore the unique taste of Manipur” brochure includes useful and attractive information about places to visit in Manipur, shopping places, The War Cemetery, Loktak Lake and Sendra Island, Keibul Lamjao National Park, Moreh, and other districts in Manipur to visit and things to do such as trekking or picnics, where to stay and how to get there.
When FPSJ Review asked Gautam Kangjam of the challenges he is facing right now as a travel company, he said that his business is in extreme low right now because of Covid-19 and the company is coping from the other companies under Lingzel such as the BPO. He also said holiday packages are at an extreme low not only for people wanting to travel outside of Manipur but for people inside Manipur who wants to visit Loktak etc because the locals won’t let any outsiders in because of Covid-19. Although, he hopes that his business would improve by 2021.
The My Manipur Trip travel company and app was launched on World Tourism Day, 27th September 2020.
Lingzel has other unique companies lining up for launch. One is the Mobile ATM which Gautam Kangjam calls ‘ATM on wheels’, which is already RBI approved and ready to be launched, the Lingzel Ent Pvt Ltd CEO informed FPSJ Review. He said that the ‘ATM on wheels’ concept arose from the difficulties he faced as a Manipuri living in Manipur regarding ATM services out here. He was talking about the lengthy lines and the unavailability of cash in the ATMs and the typical bad service that the stationed ATM’s provide in Manipur. With ATM on wheels, anyone would be able to withdraw anytime, when they would call the service provider, the ATM would arrive at their doorsteps like an ambulance.
Gautam Kangjam gained a lot of precious experiences from his previous jobs at ‘MakeMyTrip’ in Bengaluru, through which he brought the distributorship in Manipur. Then he worked in a company called ‘MyTravo’ (a company based in Kolkata who went bankrupt and dissolved) and then he was offered a job at Hermes, a German company after MakeMyTrip. He worked at Hermes for 7 years. Lastly, when he was offered a transfer to Seoul, South Korea by Hermes, he decided that he would better focus on developing Manipur since he learnt a lot from all his work in travel and tourism business.
One can check out My Manipur Trip’s website at www.mymanipurtrip.com
The writer is currently pursuing Masters in English Language and Literature from Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Bengaluru. She earlier interned at Bowel Cancer UK as a public relations assistant in London, and after receiving training as an English teacher under Via Lingua International in Istanbul
