In the city infrastructural horizon of our country, urban retail dazzles from the exterior and keeps offering the best returns year-on-year, even in weak economic conditions. It is all thanks to the herculean efforts of the retail brands empowered by their strong management teams working constantly to uplift every department of their respective organizations.
Yet for the longest time, there remain several severest pain points for urban retail players. The biggest had been managing their brands’ realty infrastructure spread across the country. Expanding the brand to meet increasing customer demands meant developing customized real estate in metros, cities, towns, and even some semi-urban areas that catered to vast geographical areas.
Also, the brand managers must invest their time, money, and resources in daily managing the developed infra, including retail brand stores, warehouses, offices, and other spaces. Thus, when Ar. Akshay Bansal entered the industry as a Senior Project Manager Architect after accomplishing his B.Arch and M.Arch degrees in 2019, he could complement his practical experience and with newly gained academic knowledge to astutely see all those pain points in detail.
He gathered experience as a Freelancing Organizational Consultant for Startup, Architectural Consultant, & PMC. It helped Ar. Akshay in first Co-founding ADCON Associates in Nov 2020, a multi-disciplinary design firm that provides design and PMC solutions – as a Sr. Architect and establishing AKORITA INDIA PVT. LTD., last year in December 2022 as the Founder and CMD of the company.
A Saga of Innovation
Reflecting on his journey, Ar. Akshay says, “With the experience of doing multiple startups (Failing and Succeeding), I have commenced the company by the name of AKORITA INDIA PVT LTD in the year 2022 with the vision to solve the urban retail infrastructure and expansion problems.”
Adding on to the saga of today’s successful leadership, Ar. Akshay says that concerning his experience in the design and development of similar domains, he realized the problem for the retail Brand in their offline expansions. There were no brands or companies to solve their complete problems with proficiency, technological and data-driven solutions. Also, a few unorganized companies were giving some of the solutions. But quality and time was the major problem that would eventually increase the Cost for the retail brands.
So, to take the initiative to solve the problems and a vision to be a one-stop solution and giving end-to-end support in urban retail expansions, with solutions like
- Finding Right Property
- Complete Design & Feasibility Audit of the Properties
- State of the art Design Solution
- Turnkey Solutions
- Repair and maintenance of the retail infra and spaces,
“We started AKORITA INDIA with just ₹5 Lac of the capital investment and a great team of three people in the last quarter of 2022,” informs Ar. Akshay.
Ar. Akshay has a team of 20+ people in HO, an overall team of 65+, and a 4500+ Vendor/Technician working Pan-India with him on the mission.
The Purposeful Idea
Ar. Akshay’s vision is clear. ‘Urban retail expansion has a future in India. Government and private players are highly invested. They are investing more in the past two decades and have immense potential for the upcoming three decades. Even a high pandemic couldn’t affect urban retail expansion’s growth matrix.
He explains, “So we as a company are willing to capture most of the market share and witness the success story with the growth in India by developing a sustainable company working with the most ethical approach to provide quality of life to the team.”
Ar. Akshay can do it because, along with being an Architect and Urban Designer by profession, he has a deep knowledge of urban expansions in retail and commercial real estate. Further, his in-depth understanding of how a city transform and grows through commercial and retail infrastructure and impact the public spaces through retail and commercial infusion by purchasing power parity of urban Indians aid him in expanding his brand AKORITA INDIA.
Connecting the Dots
Sharing his inspiration behind venturing into the real estate space as an architect, Ar. Akshay says there were many things. The first factor has been market dynamics, with big players entering retail.
Also, over the past decade, a huge, unorganized, untapped retail market converted into brands and organized players.
Another factor was that there was not much competition. There weren’t and still aren’t companies giving end-to-end retail expansion solutions from capex to opex. Ar. Akshay reveals, “We are the largest player in India that connects all these dots.”
The most significant factor was that most well-funded startups started acquiring retail space in commercial real estate – “Giving us huge addressable market size. Today, almost every shopkeeper or retail brand is our client.” They might be organized, unorganized, or e-commerce, yet they are expanding their offline commerce. “In short, my inspiration has been market demand and retail brands’ necessity,” states Ar. Akshay.
Offering A Perfect TAT
Their inspiration, expertise, deep domain knowledge, and passion for offering the perfect solutions that today, AKORITA is a team of 65+ professionals who work hard to ensure the TATs are reached on maximum occasions.
Moreover, the projects are delivered with modern and innovative designs, ensuring the uniqueness and credibility of the brand. “We are working on 200+ projects currently. Our 4500+ technicians in every nook and corner of the nation deal with nearly every retail brand manager out there. All these are our USPs,” says Ar. Akshay, adding that a pan-India presence to fulfill all the project and client needs of on-time delivery of the projects further compels them to deliver their best all the time. Ar. Akshay adds, “Our repair and maintenance team works on the 48 hrs TAT. That’s unheard of.”
Resonating with Customers’ Expectations
Highlighting their distinctive offerings, Ar. Akshay says AKORITA offers a one-stop solution and gives end-to-end support in urban retail expansions. When it comes to providing the best to clients and customers, Ar. Akshay and his team offer a complete turnkey solution.
He explains, “With the turnkey solution, we mean end-to-end service in retail. Arranging the recce and ensuring the recce team completes the given task on time. Working on architectural and interior projects and designs with the client. Ensuring quick response and execution of project – (civil, interior electrical, fire, Mechanical, plumbing, HVAC, etc.). Lastly, our strong base, i.e., repair and maintenance and PMC, ensures we meet all the needs of our esteemed clients in the market.”
A Faithful Leadership
The clients also trust Ar. Akshay and his team AKORITA immensely. It is due to their professional values and qualities admired by the customers. Ar. Akshay says, “We believe that along with word of mouth, work speaks for itself. Hence, along with the promise, the work and dedication that we offer to our clients and customers from day one are most valuable to them. The basic USP’s of our firm are that we assure maximum quality and commitment to TAT – we work by deadline and assure that we deliver the projects and work at said time. And as from incorporation of the company, we wanted to rule the retail market by providing them with a one-stop solution, i.e., a platform that offers turnkey solutions, project design, repair and maintenance, modern solutions/innovation, and economic project management.”
A Hard Working Advise
As an emerging leader in the dynamic business arena, Ar. Akshay’s advice to budding aspirants willing to enter the business world is pragmatic. He says that entrepreneurship is all about mindset, timing and consistency. ‘If you have the right mindset and you are sure about the timing, then the only thing is to be patient and consistent about the vision you are working for. “Because I strongly believe that Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard,” he claims.
Swiftest Success
On envisioning AKORITA INDIA’s operations with the emerging technologies and automated tools that are revolutionizing the business world by enabling innovations, Ar. Akshay divulges that although they are not a technology-driven company, they strongly believe in upgrading the relevant technological tools in the system. “Due to it, we can achieve multiple milestones, beat up multiple operational challenges, and have increased our revenue growth,” he concludes.
