File 0001— Engagement Sequence
How an Engagement Works
No work starts on a handshake. Every engagement runs the same sequence, on paper, in this order.
An enquiry binds you to nothing. It opens a confidential conversation. This page sets out how ARKA Worldwide Media takes on a mandate: what is signed and when, how fees are fixed, how the work is reported and how it ends.
File 0002Steps 01 — 08
The Sequence
Eight steps, in this order. Beside each one: where you stand at that point.
- Step 01
First Contact
A referral, the contact form, or an email to office@arkaworldwide.media. Say what you need and by when. Leave the sensitive detail out; it comes later, on a secure channel.
Where you standNo commitment
- Step 02
Conflict Check
We run a 48-hour conflict check before any briefing. If we already act for the other side of your market or your contest, we decline.
Where you standBefore any briefing
- Step 03
Non-Disclosure Agreement
An NDA is signed before sensitive details change hands. Ours, or yours once we have reviewed it. From here, sensitive conversation moves to an end-to-end encrypted channel.
Where you standBefore any detail
- Step 04
Scoping
A working conversation and a short diagnostic. The outcome you need, the constraints, what must not be touched, who approves. What is out of scope is written down as carefully as what is in.
Where you standUnder NDA
- Step 05
The Written Mandate
A proposal, then the engagement paper: a master service agreement with a statement of work, or a retainer agreement (the Protocols call this the engagement letter). It fixes scope, term, fees, confidentiality, the authority you grant us and how your data is handled. The standing terms are set out under The Mandate.
Where you standBinding on signature
- Step 06
Fees Fixed First
A retainer or a project fee, agreed in writing before work starts. On venture-building mandates, part of the fee may be equity or a success fee, written into the mandate. A change of scope is quoted before it is done.
Where you standBefore work starts
- Step 07
Work and Reporting
A kickoff session, then a fixed rhythm: a status note at an agreed weekly interval, a monthly review, a quarterly review. One named person on your side approves each piece of work. The full rhythm is under Reporting.
Where you standDuring the mandate
- Step 08
Exit
A mandate ends on its term or on the notice written into it. We hand over the work, revoke every access and return or delete your data as the mandate provides. Confidentiality outlives the engagement.
Where you standOn term or notice
File 0003— What you sign and receive
The Paper
If it is not in the paper, it is not in the mandate.
These are the documents an engagement produces, in the order you meet them.
Non-disclosure agreement Before any detail.
Proposal Scope, timeline, fee, exclusions.
Master service agreement and statement of work, or a retainer agreement The mandate itself.
Data processing agreement Signed alongside the mandate whenever ARKA handles personal data of your customers or members.
For regulated work The licensed professional's own engagement: with you directly, or through ARKA where the mandate says so.
After each working session Notes with decisions, actions, names and dates.
At exit A handover file.
File 0004— Your side
What We Ask of You
Five things, asked at the start so the dates in the mandate hold.
One decision-maker and one day-to-day contact.
Prompt answers. A late approval moves the date; it does not shorten the work.
Access through each platform's own invite, to named people. We do not ask for passwords.
Only the data the work needs. If it includes your customers' details, tell us whether they consented to marketing.
Your legal or compliance contact. And any wording your regulator requires.
File 0005— Our side
What Stays Confidential
The short form. The full text is in the Protocols and the Privacy Notice.
That you are a client. We do not name clients publicly without written permission, and we do not confirm or deny a client relationship unless the law requires it.
What you tell us. An NDA governs from the first substantive conversation. Inside ARKA, access to your file is need-to-know.
How we speak. First contact is by email. Sensitive conversation then moves to an end-to-end encrypted channel. We do not use WhatsApp for sensitive data.
What we keep. When a mandate closes, files are archived under access control and deleted when the retention period in your mandate ends. An enquiry that goes no further is kept for one year from our last correspondence, then deleted.
File 0006Cadence
Reporting Rhythm
You should never have to ask where things stand.
Status note
WhenAn agreed weekly interval
ContainsDone, next, blocked, decisions needed.
Monthly review
WhenOnce a month
ContainsPerformance and direction.
Quarterly review
WhenEvery quarter
ContainsServices, deliverables and measures against the mandate.
Crisis mandates
WhenAt agreed intervals, as events require
ContainsSituation reports on the secure channel.
Before anything goes public
WhenEvery time
ContainsA pre-release check: claims, permissions, data, accessibility.
These are the defaults. Your mandate sets the final rhythm.
File 0007— Licensed professionals
Regulated Work
ARKA holds no professional or sector licence and does not pretend to. Where a mandate touches regulated work, that part is delivered only through licensed or registered professionals, engaged for each mandate.
Their licence, their responsibility; our coordination.
The rules that apply in each field are listed under Sectors; the seven desks that take a mandate are under Services.
- Protection
- PSARA-licensed agencies
- Property transactions
- MahaRERA-registered agents
- Legal work
- Independent advocates
- Tax, audit and certification
- Chartered accountants
- Investments and insurance
- Not ARKA work. Your own SEBI-registered adviser and IRDAI-licensed broker or insurer
File 0008— Exit and handover
Ending a Mandate
A mandate is built to end cleanly: the work handed over, the access closed, the silence kept.
Either side may end a mandate. On the notice written into it.
On exit. Work in progress handed over, access revoked, files archived under access control and deleted when the retention period in your mandate ends.
The silence holds. We do not confirm or deny that you were a client, during the engagement or after it, unless the law requires it.
Ownership of deliverables. Set out in your mandate.
File 0009— Asked before signing
Common Questions
Seven questions worth asking before a mandate is signed. If yours is not here, ask it in a first message; it commits you to nothing.
Does sending an enquiry commit me to anything?
No. Sending an enquiry to ARKA does not bind you. The terms apply only when you sign a mandate that sets out scope, fees, confidentiality and the authority you grant.
Will ARKA sign our NDA?
Yes. ARKA signs a non-disclosure agreement before sensitive details are shared, either its own or the client's after review.
How are ARKA's fees set?
ARKA's fees are set as a retainer or a project fee, agreed in writing before any work starts, plus applicable taxes. On venture-building mandates, part of the fee may be taken as equity in the venture or as a success fee; where it is, the terms are written into the mandate before work starts. Scope changes are quoted first. ARKA does not publish a rate card.
Does ARKA take every mandate?
No. ARKA declines a mandate where there is a conflict with an existing client, where the work would need a licence no engaged professional holds, or where the request is unlawful, such as fake reviews, undisclosed paid content or personal data used without consent.
Who will I deal with?
At ARKA the Principal is your contact for decisions and direction. A named operations lead runs day-to-day delivery.
Can ARKA share client names or references?
ARKA does not name clients publicly without written permission. The case files on this site are illustrative composites. Where a reference is appropriate it is arranged privately, with that client's consent.
What happens to my details if we do not go ahead?
ARKA keeps an enquiry for one year from the last correspondence and then deletes it. You can ask for earlier deletion at office@arkaworldwide.media.
Begin With an Enquiry
ARKA does not begin work without a signed mandate, and does not give legal, tax or investment advice or manage or take custody of client money. A first message commits you to nothing. Keep sensitive detail out of it.