| Outlook Money - Success, by Design A breakneck journey from repairing cycles to a multi-crore architecture company. Chumki Bharadwaj
WINNERS - JIMMY MISTRY Even as a child, I knew that I never wanted to do a job or puruse something mediocre, says Jimmy Mistry, enfant terrible of the bike tracks and the boardroom. No, he doesn't race bikes for a living; he runs an architecture and development company in Mumbai. Ask the 34-year-old Mistry how this came to be, and he'll tell you that he was never cut off for a 9-5 job, but wanted to build a corporate. Mistry's dream began early when he was still in school. "I used to modify cycles and sell them, making enough to augment my meagre resources." he says. His father was a marketing executive who was transferred all over the country. "Changin schools constantly meant learning to cope with change and developing people skills rather early in life," says Mistry. IT also meant that he grew up fiercely independent, which explains his after-school job selling cycles. Business....Architecture & Development
Starting Early. As he grew older, his passion for two-wheelers grew. By the time he was in college, he was modifying and selling motorbikes. While that satisfied his passion, he needed to feed his wallet too. "I used to work as a sales executive in various exhibitions and also worked as a surveyor for Nagpur Times during college," Mistry recalls. When he graduated in 1991, he worked as an apprentice in a plastic injection moulding company to gain hands-on experience so he could set up his own modification unit. Sadly, he wasn't in any position financially to set up a unit, so Mistry looked for other ways of making money. He started contract assignments for plumbing, cleaning and basic repair jobs for |
|
residences. Hardly soul satisfying, but in two years, Mistry had built a loyal customer base and was making Rs.4 lakh per annum. In 1993, he got his first big contract, to re-plaster and waterproof the entire Tata Press Building in Mumbai. The contract was worth Rs. 15 lakh. It was a good year for Mistry in other ways as well as he got married the same year.
Smooth ride. With a year, he began getting contacting jobs to re-do interiors for residences. Things were going very well, but Mistry was dissatisfied with the type of work he was getting. In 1995, when the IT industry was at its peak, Mistry decided to change course. He realised that because of the IT boom, there would be more offices coming up, and all of them would need furniture.
Rough Road. In 1996, he set up Della Tecnica with 16 people and a share capital of Rs 2 lakh. Then came the announcement that furniture imports were to be put into the restrictive category. "This meant that for a period of about 6 months our consignments were blocked, so was our money. We had to face the music from our clients who wanted their furniture and from the furniture companies who wanted their money," says Mistry. With mounting damages and no funds forthcoming, repaying bank loans was becoming virtually impossible.
He managed to stick on and pay up. And, he says, he learnt a valuable lesson. "Ups and downs are part and parcel of any business, but the important thing to remember to consolidate." He weathered that bad patch, and by 1998, his turnover had climbed to Rs 16 crore.
But Mistry began to rethink the entire logic behind importing furniture. There were too many variables involved, and so he decided to get into manufacturing. He setup a Rs 25 lakh furniture manufacturing plant in Daman.
Climbing Up. Mistry also decided to change the way he sold furniture. Instead of retailing to other architects, he designed to procure the design jobs for himself and advertised his business as providing turnkey solutions for interiors. "Finding acceptability was a big problem since I was vying for jobs with the same architects I had been supplying furniture to," he says. But it worked, and he was soon reporting a turnover of Rs. 25 crore.
Despite having had no formal training, Mistry entered the world of architecture and design and began offering interior design solutions to corporate offices, radio and television studios, laboratories, and residential complexes. He employed a few architects and interior designers, and soon made a name for himself in a cutthroat business. His client list grew to include such names as Sahara India, UB, TImes of India, KPMG, and AC-Nielsen.
Today Mistry employs over 900 people, has four offices, and expects a turnover of Rs.200 crore in 2005-06. But a Mistry takes off on his uber fast Triumph Rocket III yo can tell he'd be delighted to leave business world and go back to messing around with the bikes.
- Jimmy
Mistry |
Our integrated comprehensive design services manifest into single-window responsibilities which in turn translates into unparalleled peace of mind for our client. 
| © Della Tecnica 2011 | Knowledge Management System |