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Monday, 26 March, 2018, 13 : 02 PM [IST]
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The Game Changer - Ankush Nijhawan MD, Nijhawan Group & Co-Founder, TBO Group
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Disha Shah Ghosh
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There are times some decisions
throw life completely out of gear.
However, the one who faces the
challenges head on stands the test
of time. This holds completely true
for Ankush Nijhawan. Born in an
illustrious business family, who would
have thought his struggles would grow
multi-fold, for he decided to make some
brave moves to realise a dream never
before envisaged by any. While proving
that his ideas were a breakthrough, he
also had a family name to live up to, and
one can truly say he has been successful in
doing so on both fronts. TravelBiz Monitor recognises Ankush Nijhawan for making
Nijhawan Group a diversified global entity in
a span of just 15 years, which competes with
the big boys in the global market today.
For a 40-year old regional
brand like Nijhawan
Group to become a global
entity within a span
of 15 years is no mean
feat. Not only has the
company expanded its
geographical footprint
across continents, but also has diversified
into verticals hitherto it didn’t operate into.
In fact, no one would have ever thought
that Nijhawan Group’s brand Travel
Boutique, a B2B brick and mortar agency
with presence in 3 cities, would go on to
establish its foothold in 90 countries today
to offer products and customised solutions
to the trade community. The early seeds of
expansion of Nijhawan Group were sown
in 2000 when a fresh graduate from Bryant
College USA found himself as a misfit
within 2 days of joining ESPN.
“I went to my dad and asked for an
opportunity to prove myself. That’s when
my journey really began. I joined as a front
line executive, issuing physical tickets
and waiting in queues for visas at the
embassies just like any young employee
in the company. This went on for 2-3 years,
which laid a solid foundation of my career.
I moved up the ladder working across
various departments. When you learn from
the bottom, you can’t be easily fooled,”
says Ankush Nijhawan, MD, Nijhawan
Group, reminiscing about his early days.
When Ankush joined Travel Boutique
in early 2000, it was the GSA of British
Airways in North/South and West India
having a presence in Delhi, Lucknow and
Jalandhar, with annual turnover of INR
30 crore. However, Ankush realised that
actual growth would follow only by moving
out of his comfort zone and competing with
the big boys in the business. This gave
rise to a long struggle of sleepless nights
and relentless hard work to reach out
and convince trade partners about Travel
Boutique and its varied products and
services across West, East and South India.
Ankush and his team started reaching out
the agents in the major metros of India and
he credits the success of his loyal network
of agents to inter-personal relationships
and service delivery. “My mother always
said there is no substitute for hard work
and personal communication. Despite the
technological advancement, nothing can
replace a direct call to the customer or an
informal chat to create a comfort level.
Therefore, I ensure that I am available to
all my clients at any given point of time.”
Ankush Nijhawan with Gaurav Bhatnagar, Co-Founder, TBO Group & V.K Balaji, COO, TBO Holidays at the World Travel Awards
In early 2004, when Nijhawan Group,
under Ankush’s able guidance was looking
at diversification, he wanted to return to
education for an MBA, a decision which
his father vehemently opposed. “He said I
alone can’t handle what you have built in
3 years. In fact, one of the deans at Temple
University told him that if your son could
do business in a market like India he doesn’t
need to pursue an MBA. But I cautioned
him to never blame me for not pursing post
graduation.”
This was a turning point in his life and
since then Ankush has never looked back.
This was the time e-commerce platform had
started stepping up its ante in the market,
which went on to create a major disruption
in consumer purchase behaviour. However, a
feeling of restlessness had started creeping in
for Ankush. “I wasn’t satisfied with the results
compared to the efforts put it. During this time,
a common friend introduced me to Gaurav who
was formerly with Microsoft. He wanted to
explore the travel space and I was considering
venturing into technology since e-commerce
was still at a nascent stage in India, and I felt
that it would be the future. However, I was
adamant that we maintain the Travel Boutique
brand since it was an established name in the
market. Therefore, we christened the company
Travel Boutique Online, which is now popularly
known as TBO.”
“Naspers came onboard as an investor in TBO and it
was a major breakthrough for us. It not only gave us the
confidence that we are on the right track, but also made me
realise that we now need to make TBO a truly global brand.
I want to reach 150 countries by 2019. Today, we offer call
centre services in 6 different languages.”
With the emergence of Online Travel Agents
in 2005, TBO seemed to be at the right place
at the right time by offering global airline
content on its platform to brick and mortar
agents. With consumers slowly and gradually
getting comfortable to the e-commerce space,
the offline agents had started feeling the heat.
This is when TBO came to their rescue to offer
content in real time, reaching an agent base of
5,000 in 2012 across its network.
The growth journey and potential of TBO
caught the attention of even a global giant like
Naspers. “Naspers came onboard as an investor
in TBO and it was a major breakthrough for
us. It not only gave us the confidence that we
are on the right track, but also made me realise
that we now need to make TBO a truly global
brand.”
On a chance visit to Dubai, Ankush decided
to undertake a recce of the region. He realised
that the market was completely untapped
for the B2B space. “Agents here were in for
a surprise that they could check inventory in
real-time and issue tickets through the TBO
platform. I immediately made a phone call to
Gaurav that we need to set foot print in the
global market and start with the Middle East.
We hired one person in a rented location in
Dubai, and began our international journey.”
Overseas expansion was a major struggle for
Ankush, the market was new, and the dynamics
were different. However, not one to bow down
to the situation, he took the challenges head
on, and the results are for all to see. Today,
TBO enjoys its presence across 90 countries.
Another breakthrough that followed in 2013
was focus on hotel inventory. Realising that
commissions from air travel were dwindling
because of the growing consumer comfort with
OTAs, TBO ventured into the hotel space. “In
2012, only 8% agents were buying hotels from
TBOs. It was difficult to convince them to shift
from air ticketing to hotels. Today 40% of the
agents focus on hotels.”
Ankush with his Father & Chairman of Nijhawan Group, Sham Nijhawan (R) and Rahul Bhatia, Group MD, InterGlobe Enterprises
Ankush’s efforts have shown results and
today Nijhawan Group has 45 offices across
India and 26 global offices with a presence
in LATAM, Middle East, Africa, Europe.
China, Asia Pacific and Australia. “I want to
reach 150 countries by 2019. Today, we offer
call centre services in 6 different languages
- Portuguese, Spanish, Cantonese, English,
French and Arabic.” Nijhawan Group, under
the leadership of Ankush has also ventured
into e-commerce start up space, Hotels/Theme
parks and Tourism board representation,
retail, catering services, diversifying the
group’s portfolio across various spheres. Each
vertical today is growing individually and
competing with the big names in the business
while upholding principles like customer
loyalty, transparency and complete adherence
to law.
The journey for Nijhawan Group and
Ankush wasn’t a smooth ride. Some personal
sacrifices became a routine for Ankush.
While he had to regularly travel for work
across India and overseas, his wife, Priyanka
was managing things on the home front.
“I couldn’t get much time to spend with the
kids, especially my daughter. I could hardly
see her while growing up since I was spending
long hours at work. I was away for many social
events during my children’s formative years.”
Even today, Ankush is travelling nearly 20 days
a month to ensure all his business verticals
remain relevant in the fast-changing world
where technology is constantly evolving. “There
is always someone better than you and this is
the cycle of life. Therefore there is absolutely
no scope for being complacent. I believe in
work harder and play hard,” says Ankush. “I
am aware that there is always someone making
a better product, someone with much more zeal
than I have today and it is worrisome. This is
what keeps me on my toes every day.”
disha.shah@saffronsynergies.in
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