Igniting passion for the country

[Music]

a happy

republic day to all of you

so i’m often asked how did i get into

the business of design

well i didn’t the business got into me

my story my entrepreneurial journey

began

when i was in school i used to modify

cycles

so i would pick up a magazine look at a

catalogue and try and take an ordinary

cycle and convert it into something that

was aspirational

i did that moved to college unlike you

guys i was not fortunate enough to come

to bits

but i moved to a diploma and mechanical

engineering college in nagpur

i started doing motocross racing i would

do the same thing that i did then with

the cycle

i did with my bike i would go to

sponsors collect money

modify the motorcycle bring it into an

aspirational racing machine

and race motocross that was when i was

when i was 17 that was my first business

card out there

it was a homegrown small catering shop

meant for small parties and corporates i

did it with my neighbor

by 18 i was frustrated i wanted to

become an entrepreneur

i dropped out of my college i didn’t

finish my diploma

and i moved to bombay my real

entrepreneurial journey began when i was

i moved to bombay being from a middle

class parsi family didn’t have the

resources to invest into any business

but i decided i’m never going to work

for anybody else

i sold off my motorcycle got about 20

thousand rupees those days

bought a pest control pump or a drilling

machine and got going with my business

printed my cards went to the nearby

jaguar party

and hired literally a japanese

and converted that into the pest control

license operation

started approaching corporate clients

and got an exposure what it takes to go

and sell yourself

i was very fortunate enough to land at

the right corporates at the right time

and i got some great companies like bank

of baroda and tatas

that changed my whole perspective i

would go into bombay house every now and

then to do pest control

and very close quarters i would look at

the top executives which otherwise i

would have never had a chance to see

got me thinking in a direction that i

needed to do something bigger so even

though pest control was doing good

i wanted to move to contracting and the

very same clients that gave me pest

control jobs

started giving me small contracting jobs

building repairs plumbing wall repairs

cleaning of water tanks it moved beyond

and i moved my place from the jewelry to

a small electrical meter room at nepean

zero 200 square feet

and made it into a contracting office

the staff grew

the business grew and it was 95 by the

time again i was frustrated because i

didn’t see the contracting business

growing i always wanted to be on the

creative side

that got me to the next level that got

me

to my actual entrepreneurial career

one day passing from churchgate i used

to go and look at these books and

catalogs sitting there you know these

these guys have stalled on the roads

i picked up a book feature that really

changed my life

it was a catalogue of italian office

furniture suppliers

and from that catalog i could quickly

sense that as a contractor i’d never

seen that kind of furniture in any

office

including bombay house where i thought

that was the epitome of design those

days

i got a couple of fax numbers those days

emails were not there mind you

you guys must have been just born that

was that was 95

i sent faxes to about 25 26 companies or

more

one company responded back and i said

i’m interested in representing you in

india i didn’t know what i was talking

but one company responded back and like

my earlier speaker said

you need to create opportunities

that company that responded back turned

out to be the world’s second largest

office furniture manufacturer of those

days

in europe number one in europe number

two in the world

olivier synthesis so this guy responds

to me and i go

i pick my bags go to italy meet with

this guy

he was a he’s a genuinely nice person

who turned around things for me

he not only gave me a dealership in

india because oliver he was doing zero

business with india

he also introduced me to other italian

furniture suppliers

and very soon before i could actually

think i was

representing company after company

picking up catalogs after catalogs and

suitcases getting them back to india

going to architects and trying to sell

because i’d identified a business that

didn’t exist

supplying italian furniture and having a

showroom of italian furniture in india

that was the first one more than 20

years back

this continued as soon became very

popular with the leading fancy

architects in the country not only in

bombay

across delhi chennai calcutta bangalore

and i would frequent italy at least

twice a month

i hired a showroom and set up india’s

first italian furniture showroom and

represented about 27 brands

did an exhibition of italian furniture

way back in 96.

soon enough as soon as the exhibition

got over and order booking was done

yet another blow to me the government of

india decided to

remove furniture imports from the

spatial import license

and it became a negative list of import

means i could no longer import for those

months

and i didn’t know when that policy would

change this compelled me

to get into manufacturing it was a

blessing in disguise

so i went to nagpur where i was doing my

engineering once upon a time

and hired a friend’s workshop which was

about 2000 square feet his father had

expired

took it on rent and set up a carpentry

shop

soon enough i got the biggest break of

my life of star tv to supply their

entire furniture

and i went off to daman and hired an

entire factory

and started manufacturing furniture

there

this was 97 things turned around became

popular

started working with so many architects

and designers

to me design came naturally because

that’s what i had learned doing

improvising things and bettering things

aesthetically and functionally

to me design was never taught i’ve never

learned to be an architect or designer

day in my life i’d never gone through

formal education and design

but that particular thing kept me going

design thinking happened to me way later

in life

but whatever i was doing there was a

method to the madness there was a

process

it was chaos but it was organized chaos

and at any point in time our lives were

chaotic it was never

never a simple dull moment till date in

our lives

well 97 98 99 supplied furniture

and again i get disheartened when i

don’t see the businesses growing at the

speed i want them to grow

i thought the most of the architects

whom i’m supplying the furniture

i could design better than them and we

could have an organization where we

would

kind of democratize design

so we realized clients wanted the

international design

they wanted the stuff at a fixed price

and if we worked out a turnkey design

formula we would be successful

that was a niche i identified 99 we did

the first turnkey interiors for hdfc

followed by i don’t know hundreds of

offices and

across india we were literally doing any

brand so 90

of television channels you would change

were designed by me one once upon a time

uh finance shipping we went across

industries

and this formula of turnkey design was

one of the reasons why we became so

successful

a factory would supply a contracting

company would do the contracting

we would design and we would democratize

design

we replicated the same and realized that

even though i was not a qualified

architect

client started approaching us for design

and we started designing architecture

we hired hoods of designers we had about

at the peak we had about 1700 employees

architects designers engineers

mep consultants furniture manufacturing

specialists all within the same

organization

but this one thing separated us from the

crowd trying and identifying a gap

in what is available wizard is what we

can deliver what the finest architects

would deliver

versus what value would we bring across

on the table if clients

appointed us so we did we did a couple

of very interesting projects across the

length and breadth of the country

again architectural design fees interior

fees the turnovers were not really

really

happening when i would compare myself

and our organization to the leading

developers in bombay and bangalore

with whom i used to work very closely

their balance sheets would be at least

three zeros ahead of mine

and i decided that we should get into

development but development

again we use design thinking and try to

do

something when we are to compete with

established players in the industry

tomorrow when you guys start your

careers and want to compete with the

established players in the industry

you need to identify a niche and then

you need to give it to 100

so we developed only one building in

bombay that was the first redevelopment

job that we did

but aesthetically we give it 100

it was so strong in design that today it

has got

onto the landmark of bombay it has gone

to become a landmark in bombay

on the skyline of bombay every developer

with this one project

and every architect and designer with

this one project began to realize

and acknowledge the building so we gave

it a personal architectural theme

and we recreated art with with with more

than 250 artists sitting for

two and a half years working on this

particular project

we moved across and got into something

in the year 2008 which was second home

development

again we wanted the company to grow

identified a niche

developers were there doing commercial

development developers so they’re doing

residential development there was not a

single developer focusing

on specialization in second homes

throughout when i was traveling on and

off to italy and the rest of europe

i realized in india we lacked the

quality of life and enjoyment

the italians were designed with passion

and with the same passion they would

live their lives

so on weekends we would see entire

families of husband and wife children

dawning their cycling attire and cycling

together

we would see them biking together in

dirt bike tracks with small miniature

bikes for the kids

and the fathers and kids enjoying

together and the mothers riding as well

zip lines flying foxes i i could ever i

would go

weekends i would see recreation that we

were devoid of

and that got me thinking in 2008 nine we

had the first recession

and and it was a strong recession as far

as we were concerned

2009 was really bad out of our 1700

employees we had to let go of 600

employees because most projects are

shutting down

with this idea in my mind brewing why

can’t we get recreation

for the mind body and soul for the

entire family to india we set up

an adventure park every single activity

that we had seen there

we converted it and put it across an

application being into the world of

design

being into the world of manufacturing

being in the world of contracting

for us it came naturally setting up

these things but we wanted to not set up

a theme park we didn’t want to go to

china and pick up some equipment of junk

and put it across over here and call it

a theme park

we wanted to develop something for the

mind body and soul something for every

family member

so we designed about 70 activities and

again

design thinking really really helped me

none of this would have been possible

hadn’t i gone through a course of three

days with ideo design

how many of you know ideo surprising i

would i would strongly suggest all of

you

to visit ido idea is one of the foremost

design institutions in the world they

are the ones who designed the apple

mouse

so ideo taught me in three days

with their seminar what design thinking

meant

and why should you go through a process

of design

to reach achieve the desired result the

same desired result

each time if you go through the entire

process of design

that really changed my life and

everything i started doing how do you

create something unique

it’s not because it’s your gut feeling

it’s because you put it through a design

process

we set up the adventure park and we

moved ahead and we said

next to the adventure why don’t we have

accommodation and again in the

accommodation we did design thinking

what is that is not available people

were fed up of five stars

people wanted experiences so we started

focusing on experiential hospitality

level on a hotel we had not even run a

restaurant in our lives

so we set up a 30 room tented resort

on the edge of the mountain adjoining

the property none of this was inherited

this was all being acquired as the

business was running every rupee went

back in the business

with this resort people loved the

experience they loved

the contemporary tents in india usually

in rajasthan tensar

the raja maharaja luxury tents when you

put in a very philipstack contemporary

tent

it excited the corporate world it

excited the people who traveled

globally so this was the first resort we

set up with 30 rooms

we learned our ropes we kept our ears

very close to the ground

and we kept listening to our customers

and how could we

improvise their experience of

hospitality

well one thing led to the other and

three years down the line we set up the

next resort

and again two years down the line we set

up the adventure resort and each time we

were looking at a theme

what to set up that would turn on people

across and soon we had a fan following

of the top 500 corporates in the country

as our clients so we have everybody from

a google tour microsoft who comes from

across india

and goes there for the experiences that

we offer

it moved to the next it moved to

creating innovating new things in

hospitality which didn’t exist 24 hours

apart and exist in the country

24-hour fine dining is a is a word we

find out didn’t exist in the country

so we kept on innovating new things

across we soon became a case study for

new york stone university

the final year mba students came and

spent a day with me and

and we were a case study for what we had

created in terms of experiential

hospitality

well again

three years down the line three years

back

i used to always always be looking for

an aspirational figure to mentor

i never had a mentor in my life and

bombay house days

got me connected to jrd tata and i’d

read this writing over there when i was

in my pest control days

no success or achievement in material

terms is worthwhile unless it serves the

needs

of the city country and its people and

is achieved by fair and honest means

this stuck to me that we were successful

in design we were successful in

hospitality

but what the gratification was not

really coming

and something else happened in the same

time

26 11 i was there in taj on the same day

i was in chambers on the same day and i

left chambers at about 5 30 for a

meeting

hadn’t i left chambers perhaps today i

won’t be standing here

these two things what to do so that

business becomes meaningful

and to seek revenge for what had

happened because i didn’t think enough

was

done to seek revenge those days

well the eureka moment happened

and wanted to merge

experiential hospitality design thinking

and get it across to igniting passion

for the country

so that was the turning point where

business became secondary

and the primary motto was to take this

message of igniting passion for the

country

we identified a piece of land being into

hospitality for so many years of course

things were more easier at this point

but this was by far the most difficult

project of my life in the middle of the

forest

identifying a piece of forest land

looking for a farming land

and converting it across into india’s

first counterterrorism training academy

for civilians

this is this is what we started off we

got into the military mindset

the sarvadaram stall respecting the

national flag

igniting passion for the country begins

from there

the minute you don a military uniform

every every civilian coming there has to

down a military uniform

you sit in military vehicles in the

military trucks so people get off from

their fancy cars and get rid of these

trucks to come to this place

it creates imbibes a different sense of

discipline in them

this is this is what we’ve created

across we wanted to mix

[Music]

experiential hospitality in a military

theme and then get the finest in

training together

so the of course design is is in every

every inch of what we’ve created to

create that experience across

india’s veteran military war hero

without this man we wouldn’t have won

the 1971 war that we keep talking about

even till date against pakistan

we’ve dedicated entire restaurant to his

life and his story

dedicate to maratha regiment because we

are in maharashtra in bombay

in lonavala we are in the land of the

marathas we dedicated maratha regiment

a banquet the idea was to really live

the theme and let people

soak it in of what the experiences are

pictures and patronism cannot be done

and displayed you know

all of you will agree with me that we in

india

are all by and large patriotic but the

only time we get to see patriotism in

our bloods boil is during

india-pakistan cricket match that’s the

only day we give a few abuses and then

we are quiet

we do nothing about this bitorism so

this place was finally something that

was my chance

to do and demonstrate patriotism so we

were lucky enough to get left in general

of indian army to lead our team raymond

narona

we got captains zubaidahs marcos

commandos nsg commandos

black cats we even have two of the first

commandos were there eight respondents

in taj

as trainers at our academy so employing

the army veterans

and that too from special forces was an

act of patriotism

and this is something that should be

done and practiced by all the corporates

across in the country

we’ve got multiple things so how do we

seek revenge we seek revenge by

training people in counter-terrorism

training people in survival techniques

training people in jungle survival

reason for training people

this is our way of seeking revenge in

case of a natural calamity

floods landslides the citizen becomes

an asset and not a liability to the

country in case of a terrorist attack

not only does the person train how to

survive

how to get into the mindset of the

terrorists how to survive what are the

techniques that special forces use

to survive and these are lessons that

need to be learned mentally

not physically by training people on

counterterrorism

this is our revenge we have about 3000

people being trained at the academy

civilians on a monthly basis that comes

to 36 000 people a year

36 000 trained indians is

a way of seeking revenge by making them

as an asset

in case of a adverse situation

well that’s the training that’s the

training modules

clearing general local employment so in

a place where we are creating local

employment

like jrd has said no success or

achievement is worthwhile unless it

serves the communities and the city

and the country so creating local

employments wherever we go

we do not employ contract labor we make

sure everybody is on the payroll

we make sure we generate employment

where we go

well this is what we’ve done to ignite

passion for the country

what is it that you’re going to do to

ignite passion for the country

quite a few of you are going to turn

into entrepreneurs when you leave the

university

quite a few of you are going to be

successful what is that measure that’s

going to measure the success

is it going to be your balance sheet is

it going to be the amount of money

you make or is it going to be your

contribution

to your city community country

your contribution to igniting passion

for the country

your contribution of saluting and

acknowledging the armed forces

i’ll leave you with this thought jain