Manoj Nair is a UK based serial entrepreneur. In 20 years of his professional journey, he started out as an executive with an Engineering corporation. Went on to float a start-up aged 21, which he successfully exited at 26. Later he became a civil servant with the Indian Government before going on to head an Asset Management Company in London.
Manoj holds a distinction in Electrical Engineering; Sat for Indian Civil services Examination 2005 with Masters in Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology and successfully achieved All India Rank of 157 and was All India 2nd ranker in Civil Services Interview that year. He is a Gold Medallist in Masters in Business Law and Taxation from NALSAR University of Law and is a High merit scholar (in dissertation and research papers) alumnus of London School of Economics and Political Science and Harvard Business School.
1. What is your current position?
I lead a UK Real Estate Technology (PROP-TECH) venture named RedGirraffe.com, which has recently launched its operations in India.
2. What are your proudest achievements?
None in my entire family lineage had ever ventured into entrepreneurship. So to start a venture aged 21 and be able to successfully exit it at 26 gives me a sense of contentment. Aged 25, I could gift my parents as well as to my younger sister one beautiful property each in New Delhi. I guess that feeling and the accompanied rush that comes along remains pretty high up on my list of proud achievements.
3. What inspires you?
I believe in many ways my journey till date remains a reminder that absolutely nothing is impossible if one were to put heart and soul into realising ones dreams. However I remain resolved the world we live in is not equitable to all. Entrepreneurship is my answer to pretty much all the questions out there. Create leaders and they would pull out many others into the world of light. I shall endeavour to contribute my bit by being a global change agent. This feeling keeps me absolutely charged.
4. What has been the biggest obstacle in your career?
Looking at my life you wouldn’t miss that I have been constantly seeking higher challenges nearly every 6-7 years. Be it as an entrepreneur turned civil servant turned head of an asset management company and finally now leading RedGirraffe.com. Heart seems to have come back to where it loves to be the most; Building businesses. Yes, it’s not been easy to be on a contiguous mode of risk taking. You have as many well wishers, friends and family who would advice you against any such risk heavy move. I feel blessed that I could take a considered decision every time I faced such emotional obstacles.
5. Who has been the biggest influence in your career to date?
Without any question, it would be my parents. They instilled the benefit of non-negotiable values while bringing up both my younger sister and me. The golden words still reverberate in my ears when as an 8 year old, I recollect my father taking me back to a classmate’s home from whom I had stolen a candy. He had said then “There would be many such instances when your character would be tested. There’s nothing in this life, which is unachievable by a human mind. However the character must never ever be compromised”.
6. What is the best aspect about your current role?
We are in the process of building a global company, which takes the pain out of landlords and tenants alike. Ask any (Non resident Indian) NRI and one would note that most of them hold multiple properties in India. Dig a bit further and you would realise that most of such properties remains vacant, as no one trusts the estate agency network in India. There is a huge market gap. Add to it the revenue department has now started the exercise to track the ownership of properties and are sending notices with tax charge going back to last 6 years if the property remains vacant and not let out. Most of the NRI’s are absolutely unaware of what is coming their way. Someone had to start a creditworthy technology enabled pan INDIA estate agency to take care of the situation. We felt as JFK had once said” If not us …who? If not now …when? I love the daily rush and hustle as we build RedGirraffe.com brick by brick.
7. And the worst?
Invariably it’s the time. I divide my every month literally in 3 time zones. Don’t get as much time as I would have loved to be with my family and friends. Hopefully things would settle soon and we are able to hire the right talent so that I could run the organisation from its headquarters here in London.
8. What are your long-term goals?
I intend to take RedGirraffe.com to multiple countries. The problem of lack of trust between the landlords, tenants and estate agents is a global phenomenon. Take any emerging city and you have a very similar set of tenant-landlord related problem. Take a matured city like London and the problem then becomes more of the exorbitant estate agent commissions related one. We intend to create a company which every landlord and tenant wish EXISTED.
9. If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change?
Every country’s growth is pretty much a subset of its people’s productivity. Entrepreneurship, I believe is the sole fuel to the fire called “Gross Domestic Product expansion”. Pick any country which is doing well in the world and simply do a statistical analysis of the number of entrepreneurs such country has viz a viz the general population. I am very passionate about this subject and hold a considered belief that entrepreneurship is the answer to most of today’s global problems; Be it poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, inequitable distribution of wealth so on and so forth. So I would for sure turn the focus of the country towards instilling the entrepreneurial spirit amongst the members of the society.
10. If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why?
Mr.Elon Musk, for sure. As accomplished a personality he is I intend to understand succinctly from him as to why does Mars and everything related to that planet remains top on his life’s agenda. I personally believe that so much needs to be and could actually be done here on earth and we need at any point in time to have at-least 500 thinker-doers like him to focus on this beautiful planet that we so very lovingly call as “Earth”.
