CEO of Accord Group, Sonal Agrawal has created a niche for herself in the recruitment industry. Known for her talent scouting abilities, her intelligence and her persistence, she has strengthened her hold over a difficult industry over the last 18 years.

Text: Niyati Patel
Photographs: Samantha da Cunha

The connoisseur of talent

It is a well-accepted fact that a company’s greatest asset is its people. Like any other organisation, its health and progress depends on its leaders—its CEOs and top executives. And when these corporate bigwigs are on the hunt for able professionals to run their companies, they turn to 44-year-old Sonal Agrawal, CEO of Accord Group, an executive recruitment firm, and an offshoot of ABC Consultants. One of India’s brightest stars in the recruiting space, Sonal Agrawal, CEO of Accord Group has challenged the known definition of a recruiter and has set the bar high.

A rebellious beginning

She is touted as one of India’s top ten head hunters by The Economic Times, named one of the world’s 150 most influential head hunters by Businessweek and has been included in the list of the top 30 women to look out for by Business Today. With a career spanning 18 years, Sonal Agrawal was inducted into her father’s company, ABC Consultants (a recruitment firm based in Kolkata) in the year 1993 after she finished her post graduation from the London Business School.