Page 38 - CIJ May 2024 Digital Edition

INDUSTRY TALK

first assignment. The owner, would come to Lifestyle
Umesh Agarwal, is still a and enquire about us with
great friend of mine. our housekeepers or the
In three months, we signed customer. We were in all
up about 70 other petrol retail stores throughout
pumps in Hyderabad and the city and had about 200
Secunderabad. It was big people working in them.
work and very challenging The next big thing that
because we had a very small happened to us was that all
window between when these retail stores moved to
the petrol pump closed its the big cities like Chennai,
operations at around 12:30am Mumbai, Delhi, Ghaziabad
and opened by 4:30am. and they invited us to work
Every night, we covered two with them there too. This
to three petrol pumps. was followed by airports,
The next turning point was manufacturing facilities and
in 2010 when a chemicals residentials. Our businesses
dealer connected me with the were all acquired by word-
Vice President of the global of-mouth from existing
Landmark Group, which was customers and ex-employees.
opening its first Lifestyle We now have 9000 staff
store in Hyderabad. I still across 200 cities in 3500
remember that experience of sites at 25.
discussing the terms with the
VP, who had just returned I come from a lower
from Dubai. I asked his middle-class family and
secretary for a pen and paper. FM has transformed our
I pushed the paper towards lives. But I realized that
the VP and requested him to the lives of my staff, who
list all his terms and said that had been working with
I would sign unconditionally, me for 18-20 years, had
no questions asked. That was not changed because this
a winning moment. business environment was
It was a 24x7 job and one stuck around minimum
wage irrespective of years of
of the toughest. Traditionally experience. We have made
done by labour contractors, that our brand’s chief purpose
we brought in a difference. – Transforming spaces and
Our first staff of 20 with Transforming lives.
orange dungarees and blue
shirt became a statement. We add value to spaces
We got a lot of eyeballs at with happiness & joy and
Lifestyle. great experiences add value
Very soon we expanded to to the lives of our staff by
other retail stores, including up-skilling, multiskilling and
Spencers, Shoppers Stop, behavioral training ensuring
Big Bazar, Café Coffee our people can earn 2X the
Day and Barista. Owner market value.
of these businesses, which This is what inspires me to
were the first format stores, go to work every day.”

MAY 2024•Clean India Journal
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