Necessity is the mother of a successful idea

Be it a leading multinational or a start-up, facility management is an important part of the processes; from electrical services, IT, power backup, technical services, LPG supply, sewage treatment plants that ‘people don’t see’ and come under hard services to soft services— for which even hotels sign up - everything from cleaning to furniture procurement that ‘people see’. 

New Delhi-based Ritu Grover, CEO of ‘The Global Helpdesk’ began her company with just two employees, 20 years ago. Today the company has 10 offices catering to facility management services to over 350 companies and is counted amongst the pioneers in the field.  

It all began with a desire for better work-life balance - a major dilemma for working mothers around the world. She was working as an interior designer primarily on corporate projects; she relates, “Somewhere along the line I got so busy with my career that I didn’t have much time for anything apart from working from morning to night.”

After her child was born in 1998, however, she began facing problems balancing her work, which required a lot of travelling, and with household demands it only got worse. “As interior designer, I used to spend 18 hours on work. I realised I was late for everything – for paying my bills, for little chores that needed to be done. I didn’t have time. 

Then I noticed that a large number of corporate employees were still at their desks desperately trying to meet deadlines and going through graveyard shifts. That was when I realised that the need of the day was an efficient assistant/genie service which could make lives simpler and get a work–life balance for the corporate employees. So, I went on to form ‘The Global Helpdesk’ – now an established firm known for its expertise in facility management with operations across India.” 

After wrapping up her interior-design business, Ritu was having only a concept and nothing much in hand. “I hired two untrained young boys to distribute leaflets with a list of offerings to help corporates keep their employees happy. But I was struggling. After weeks of unsuccessful emailing, I got a call from an executive of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). They shifted to Noida from the central Delhi and there was a revolt as the employees didn’t want to go. I was ready to gift them the ‘time’; that was my first deal to help the employees and give them facility management,” she shares. 

When Ritu started this business, she did not know if it would work. “The doubt creeped into my mind. I didn’t know if this will work or not? I just assumed that if I as a single mother am in this kind of mess or situation, where I do not get out to do my personal chores, and not even take care of my child because of the pressures, there would be others. It was a social thought and it worked. Challenges were that I was not having any rule book to follow and there wasn’t any guide or person to tell me how to do this business. I was doing all the hard work and that bit of luck was on my side, and timing was right.” 

Today the company is present in seven cities: Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata. Ritu’s success mantra is  - she never looked back. “There will be ups and downs, so do not worry. Concentrate on the ups and learn from the downs. This mantra was given to me by my mother. She always told me to never look back in life. I have stuck to that over my long years of entrepreneurship. One should always have a passion to do something,” says Ritu.  Another key factor to her success is building relationships and team spirit within the organisation, she adds. 

On a parting note, as a woman entrepreneur, who has seen the ups and learnt from the downs, she gives her nuggets of advice, “God has made us different. We have our own responsibility as women. We are more loving towards family, more caring towards children, and of course women can give birth. That’s about it. When it comes to work, we are equal. There should not be any bias; if men can fly even women can…so, I think the difference of being a man or woman in workspace is all in the head. We are all same!