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 The Amrutha Group is a Rs. 300 crore company with interests in property development, hotels and clubs. Its CMD Rajeev Reddy is a man in a hurry, to accomplish his dreams. Not just content with building castles in the air like the the rest of us, he actually went ahead and modelled his hotel Amrutha Castle on the lines of a Bavarian castle, plumb opposite Hyderabad’s secretariat as of now, Rajiv is full of his plans to make the flagship of the group - the Country Club - a nationwide chain as a series of franchisee clubs.
Q. You’re going in for expansion in a big way?
Answer : Yes, we are going to have franchises in the major cities. Vijayawada, Vizag, Guntur, Rajahmundry, even Srikakulam in AP. Then, we have received offers from places like Madurai, Trichy, Pondicherry in Tamilnadu. We have also got offers from Kerala. Within a couple of months, we will be opening up in Poona, a little later in Bombay, and ofcourse, we already have a successful Country Club in Bangalore. By the end of the year we should open in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. According to my analysis, I will have 45% business from the North; I am looking at Delhi, Chandigarh.
Q. Aren’t you concerned about the fact that franchising could also lower the standards you have set for your club?
Answer : Not at all. Apart from money it’s the attitude - will they come up to our standards? And so all the GM’s will be appointed and trained by us, so we will have a major hand in how the club is to be run. And, in some of the major cities, I would like to have outright ownership of the clubs, just to safeguard against what you have said. Further, we have a central event management company here in Hyderabad, the CCEA, that will co-ordinate with all the clubs and have atleast 2 events per month. If I were in a situation where I could make 10 times more money but little or no action. I wouldn’t do it.
Q. If you could turn the clock back, what would you do differently?
Answer : Maybe whatever I’m doing right now, I would have realised a long while ago. See, when I started my business I was a nobody. I still feel insecure. I would have made a more realistic assessment about my own strengths way back. My decisions would have been more practical.
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