1|Page

Symbiosis Institute Of Management Studies

(Constituent of Symbiosis International University)

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Submitted to : Mr. Arjun Panchal
Date of Submission : 28 Dec 2018

ASSIGNMENT

Interview with an Entrepreneur

Dr. Shine C Chinnan, Ph.D.
(M/s Shine Builders Consultants)

Ashish Srivastava : C-17

Lt Col K N Sunil Kumar : C-23
Lt Col Sanjeev Kumar Sharma : C-27
2|Page

Interview With An Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur : Dr Shine C Chinnan, Ph.D.
M/s. Shine Builders Consultancy
Location : Thrissur, Kerala

About The Business

Shine Builders Consultancy is primarily a consultancy firm engaged in giving solutions to low
cost building construction to the lower- and middle-class populations spread across Kerala and
certain parts in South India. The Head Office of the firm is located at Thrissur, Kerala. It was
established in 1992 as a free of cost consultancy agency in building construction of residential
buildings in local area. Later the idea of using technology and innovative materials/construc-
tion practices in making low cost buildings by the firm became popular and the services spread
all over Kerala and nearby states. Presently the firm undertakes services all over South India
and certain Middle East Countries.

Idea of the Business/ Innovation/ Concept of Entrepreneur:

Having an own home is the dream of every individual. During the period of 1992 - 1997 income
of middle-class society was very minimal and it was difficult for them to dream of owning a
good house. Construction costs were high and income was very less. Most of the people were
engaged in agriculture and very few were dependant on government/private jobs. Low cost
construction using technology and innovation and providing shelter for maximum population
as per their aspirations and financial capabilities was the mantra of the firm. The said entrepre-
neur took chance of the opportunity and became successful in the field.

Findings:

As mentioned above the entrepreneur took advantage of the need of the society at appropriate
time, worked on it and become successful in achieving the goal. The firm is actually providing
service to the society by helping people in achieving maximum value to their hard-earned
money by adopting low cost construction techniques. Initially they provided the service free of
cost, made maximum contacts, improved their capabilities and reputation, enhanced their area
of activities, earned acceptance of customers. At this point they started charging for their con-
sultancy at a reasonable rate and minimal profit. Volume of business increased gradually and
the profit also saw good growth year on year. Investments were made on properties and income
from these properties used to broaden their area of business activities. The firm is engaged in
giving its service of providing consultancy in construction of residential as well as commercial
buildings all over South India. It is in the process of expanding the business to Northern parts
of India and Middle East countries. Though the entrepreneur is hesitant in telling the profit
3|Page

margin, taking the volume of projects being handled by the firm into account it is evident that
the firm is gaining good profit margin.

Suggestions Provided:

Following are the suggestions provided by the firm for a successful business in the construction
industry: -
(a) Understand the need of the society and act accordingly to take advantage of the
situation.
(b) Provide maximum value for the money the customers are investing.
(c) Timely completion of the project is important both from the customer as well as the
builder point of view.
(d) Profit is an outcome of the services being provided and hence services should be
quality oriented and as per the requirement of the customer.
(e) Customer satisfaction is paramount. Regular communication with the customer can
avoid later disputes and dissatisfaction of the customer.

Learnings :

(a) An entrepreneur should always be alert in knowing the current need of the society to
run a successful business.
(b) Profit is not the only criteria in assessing the success of a business but acceptance of
the customers plays paramount role in continuance and growth of business.
(c) Self-branding is as important as the brad value of the business.
(d) Always concentrate on expansion and diversification.
(e) Invest the earnings judiciously so as to meet future business requirements for expansion
/diversification.

The Interview :

1. What is your idea of business?

Business is an activity which follows one’s passion with the aim of earning profit by providing
service to the society. It provides the livelihood one desires with the earnings out of it.

2. What is your area of business?

I work in the area of real estate/construction business which comes under service sector.
4|Page

3. Why did you select this field/business?

My father was an engineer with the State PWD. I used to go to various construction sites with
him in my childhood. By the passage of time it had become my passion to know more about
various kinds of buildings and construction practices.

4. Can we know about your grooming to become a successful builder in a short span of
time?

It was not a cake walk as you think. Knowing my passion my parents supported me to follow
my path. Though Civil Engineering had very little scope in government as well as private jobs
during my era of education I selected Civil Engineering as my branch of Engineering and Grad-
uated in that. I was not interested in Government jobs since I wanted to raise my own construc-
tion firm. In the initial stage it was very difficult to establish myself since I was a fresh graduate
with little experience and reasonably good competition in the field. Initially I started taking up
small residential works on consultancy basis with the help of connections of my father and my
own friends/relative circle. There had been failures in the initial stage. One of my commercial
building was collapsed because of failure of slab during construction and my reputation was
on stake. It took almost a year for me to recover from that trauma. Once I recovered from it, I
decided to expand my business in various fields of the industry.

5. What did you learn from the failures you faced?

The foremost thing I realised was the area I had chosen was very vast, experience and expertise
is required in every compartment of the industry like planning, designing, management of ex-
ecution of works, various construction and contract laws, management of the firm, liaison with
the stake holders of the industry, awareness of the firm among the target population etc. So I
worked towards that.

6. How was the progression?

I decided to study further along with carrying out my own business. I did my M Tech in struc-
tural Engineering. Then MBA in operations. Did a Diploma course in Architecture. Then pro-
ceeded to pursue my PhD in IIT Kanpur and successfully completed it. Later I did my LLB. I
also did MSc in Valuation. All these days my business was running but at a lower pace.

7. who is your target audience?

My target is the need of a house for middle class population in urban as well as rural areas in
Kerala and nearby states. They are about 80% of the population and the market is huge. I am
concentrating in providing them houses according to their requirements and financial capabil-
ity. Aim is to provide good house with lower cost.
5|Page

8. The field you have chosen is getting more competitive. How do you plan to sustain your
success in future?

It is true that this field is becoming more and more competitive. It has been about 25 years
since I started my business. Again, I started my business from scratches and now it has become
a well-known reputed brand all over Kerala. Recently I expanded my business from residential
buildings to commercial buildings. My competitors actually give me strength to do more and
explore new areas. I have taken competition as encouragement and motivation. More people in
the field shows increasing scope in the industry and ever improving construction practices and
technology. The idea is to go with the time and current need of the society. Innovation is a
continuous process. People always attract to new ideas. It is my practice to experiment new
things in every month.

9. How do you see your initial vision and the time where you stand now?

My initial vision was to provide low cost houses to the middle-class population in local and
surrounding areas. That vision has not been changed even now. But the volume of business has
increased tremendously and the business has been expanded to all over Kerala and surrounding
states. Now taking up consultancy and construction of both residential and industrial buildings.
Basic vision of serving the people never changed.

10. What is your opinion on brand image? How does it affect profit making?

Brand image plays an important role in success and making profit in every business. Self-
branding is also important in expanding the business to greater heights. When people know
about yourself and the good work you have done it automatically improves the image of your
brand and yourself. Now a days both print and social media offer more space to the business
to reach general public and the mode is cheap and fast. It also helps in acceptance of the brand
among the people. Success of brand and profit have coexistence.

11. What are your major challenges? How you overcome?

Major challenge in the field is completion of the projects in time. Though money and resources
also affect the progress, people want their projects to be completed in time irrespective of the
adverse weather conditions and other political and bureaucratic interferences. It is achieved by
disciplined work schedules procedures and time line. It is also a fact that there is tough com-
petition in the field but the same doesn’t affect much because of the reasons I mentioned earlier.

12. What are the major cost involved in your business? How to try to minimise?

Since it is a construction business major cost involved is cost of construction materials/ma-

chineries and labour cost. Material cost and labour cost is borne by the customers. Major cost
I have to incur is salary of employees of my own consultancy firm and the rent of machineries
6|Page

employed at site. There is no point in minimising the cost in this business because increments
in salary has to be paid to the employees as per the terms and conditions of service and accord-
ing to the inflation in the environment. It again doesn’t affect the profit because we constantly
increase our area of activities to more and more places and profit also increases as the work
load increases.

13. Any innovative marketing model that helps to make more revenue?

People take decisions in giving business to a particular firm depend upon the branding, repu-
tation, timely completion, quality of service etc. of the firm. The same can be conveyed to the
people through social media, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook and the like. These are very
powerful tools for marketing and our firm use these platforms effectively in spreading our
brand image and awareness in the environment. It hardly involve any cost. We participation in
seminars and exhibitions related to construction industry to connect with the people.

14. Is your start up in profit from first day if not how much time did it take to reach
operational break even?

My start-up was not making any profit in the first year. In fact, during those days I was giving
my consultancy services free of cost to gain confidence among the people and connect with
more people in need. So, I earned more customers during that period. This became an asset to
me in establishing myself in the industry. Once I established myself and earned a name in the
industry, I started paid service and the break-even reached in less than two years.

15. From where and how did you arrange the initial funds? have you got the funding?

As I said earlier, initially I did not want much money in establishing my consultancy service. I
started my office inside my home with limited staff. Initial expenditures were born by my par-
ents with their savings. Once I established myself, I started getting payments from the custom-
ers and helped me in establishing my own firm. From then year on year the profit of the firm
increased and is at a comfortable position now.

16. Do you plan to raise funding in near future? How much?

The service being provided is basically of consultancy type and hence did not feel the require-
ment of raising more money. Earning sufficient profit now and the same is being invested in a
disciplined manner.

17. For expansion you would like to prefer bank loans or equity?

As I said earlier bank loan is not required for our firm at this stage. I have invested in acquiring
30 residential/industrial buildings out of my profit from the business and the same has been
given on rent. It is a perpetual income and taking bank loan for the firm doesn’t arise. I have
7|Page

taken up construction of a resort in 10 acres of land recently. It is in the initial stage. Taking
bank loan for that project has not been thought of yet.

18. The best day of your entrepreneurship journey?

All days happened to be best day for me. As an entrepreneur I take every highs and lows as
opportunity and try to reap maximum out of it. So, no happy or sad days.

19. Your best hobbies apart from business?

Travelling with family. It gives you more insights and ideas. In fact, the resort idea came from
one of such journeys.

20. Where do you see yourself /your start up ten years down the line?

I have covered almost all parts of Kerala and entered nearby states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. I am working in some of the projects in UAE. Coming days
I am planning to expand my business to Northern part of India and the Middle East Countries.

21. Any advice to up-coming entrepreneurs?

Keep the time and be punctual in whatever you do. Try to be loyal to all. Make yourself the
brand as good as the brand name. Give importance to Smart Work rather than Hard Work.
Dream of expansion and Diversification.
8|Page