Abhimanyu Jakhar Speaks About His Entrepreneurial Journey

How did you start your journey and what is your background 

By education I am a mechanical engineer and got a good placement offer from Mahindra & Mahindra in my final year of college but there was always a belief inside me that I have so much more to do and didn’t wanna limit myself with this so I moved on to my own ventures. Even in my college days the entrepreneurial side of me experimented with a few ventures that didn’t make it big or anything like renting of furniture as I believed the demand for temporary furniture in metros for people who come for jobs or for college students is on a rise.  

Initially when I started on my own I did it like any other person with money, respect etc being important motivating factors but today if you ask me I really want my work to make a difference in this world. Your work will always make a difference. It's you who has to decide what kind of a difference you wanna make. 

Talk about your ventures and how did you get into it 

I started off with my hospitality venture when I was just 18 and in my college second year. My family owned a land parcel in industrial skirt of delhi which was very under used with the entire parcel given on rent for just 5000 rupees. I saw a demand in this place for a corporate boutique hotel considering so many mnc’s traveling 40-50 kms looking for a good hotel and decided to set the demand supply equation by building an interurban hotel. 

My next venture was in 2019 which aimed at making the ship building process in India very efficient. The biggest problem in the ship building market in India was the inefficiency in the execution process which was taken as a problem by my company and still aims to achieve maximum efficiency for any of our clients, Santosh offshore consultants. 

In covid when there was absolutely nothing to do and hospitality has been my passion so i went ahead with bringing Diablo a Mediterranean resto bar which took the market by storm in spite of being a covid product . 

Your plans of expansion in hospitality and shipping industry 

Hospitality - with expansion of Diablo we also aim to bring multiple brands to Mumbai Delhi Bangalore Indore and Gurugram. We aim at a rapid expansion with 5 brands in the next 2 years placing them pan India. 

With shipping, with a healthy market already captured in India we aim to expand to the Middle East UAE and Oman this year taking our services there and then further to Europe. 

Other cities you would like to expand into? 

  Indore, Guwahati, Jaipur and Raipur and Lucknow are a few cities I see as potential 

Cities for hospitality expansion considering the market demand on rise for good F&B products but supply being limited. 

As I believe at the end businesses is all about supply demand equation. 

How has your experience been with both industries 

The experience in both industries is completely different. One thing I love is that my work never feels like work because I enjoy doing what I do whether it is building ships or running restaurants. Both have taught me so much and very different things and have added to my overall growth. 

Hospitality does take a little edge as i now think I have a deeper passion and some game changing ideas for this particular industry. I always feel this industry is still a virgin industry and there is a lot to do and is up for grabs. Shipping on the other hand is a very serious and competitive industry. It is a wolf's game which I love to play as well. 

What are your plans for the future 

Farming is something I am very keen on doing and has always interested me. Also real estate is something I wanna venture into real soon.