Making It Big

  But our plans had to be jettisoned. Soon after I sent Tim to Dubai, the global economic crisis hit, dragging down the whole of the Middle East too with it. Dubai’s economy and its market crashed like a house of cards.

  Mark introduced me to another seasoned hospitality manager, Eric Levy. I entrusted him with the responsibility of developing the new business hotel brand and to mobilize capital for it from international financiers. He worked out of our Singapore office. We had already set up Cigen Corporation (Zinc Holdings now) under Cinnovation (now CG Corp Global) to look after our hospitality wing. My second son, Rahul, had started to take care of this operation from Singapore.

  Our business hotel brand was conceived in Singapore, with Eric, Rahul and another person, Jason Dean, playing a big role. There was a fourth person too—David Keen—without whom our brand could not have been established effectively. David, an established brand guru in international hospitality, had operated a brand consultancy company in Bangkok called Keen Media. Now he has founded a global company, Quo, in London.

  ‘I want to create a company whose business will spread across the world,’ I told David during our first meeting.

  ‘It’s not up to the company to spread its business across the world. It is up to the person who runs the company,’ he replied.

  Then, pointing his index finger at me, he asked, ‘Do you have that capability?’

  ‘I have the confidence,’ I replied.

  ‘Confidence can’t run a company,’ he snapped at me. ‘It takes money and it takes time.’

  ‘I don’t have either,’ I said.

  He was speechless with surprise.

  ‘I’m a small entrepreneur from a poor country,’ I said. “And I’m already fifty-four years old.’

  He grinned at me and shook his head.

  ‘So it’s like building a castle in the sky?’ he said, challenging my ambition.

  I was not going to give up. I said, ‘I come from a Himalayan country. I can come close to the sky by climbing a mountain.’

  ‘It demands a lot of hard work and perseverance.’

  ‘I’m not scared of hard work and I’m pretty determined.’

  He smiled.

  ‘So, what do you expect from me?’

  ‘I want to open a hospitality company that will be known all over the world.’

  ‘That is up to you. How can I possibly help you there?’

  ‘I will create the company and you will introduce it to the world. Branding establishes a hospitality company. I want the best brand from you.’

  As soon as I said this, he sprang to his feet and extended his hand to shake mine.

  ‘I think working with you is going to be exciting,’ he said.

  ‘I feel the same.’ I shook his hand firmly.

  David and I discussed the core aspects of the company. I told him about my experiences with Taj, CCA and Alila. I told him how passionate I was about creating a global brand. ‘The partnership with Taj gave me exposure and association with a famous brand, but it did not give our company its own identity. Only the name Taj appeared everywhere. They called it Taj Asia under the Taj Group. Now I want to establish a company with its own distinct identity to be the international face of Cinnovation.’

  I also told him about my long-term plans for the brand.

  ‘Once our brand is established in one sector, it should be possible for it to extend to other sectors as well. I have come across a lot of brands that suit hospitality but are not appropriate for other sectors,’ I told him. ‘I need a brand that can be used for other products such as alcohol, jeans, real estate, airlines or any other area for that matter, besides hospitality.’

  He listened intently.

  After months of discussion, David called me up from Bangkok. I was in Kathmandu.

  ‘I want to show you your dream company,’ he said, without beating around the bush.

  I was so eager to see what he had created that I caught the first flight to Bangkok the next day. That evening, David organized a small gathering for his presentation. Around half a dozen guests from the hospitality and other sectors were present, as well as some of his colleagues and the four of us—Eric, Rahul, Jason and I.

  The lights in the room were switched off.

  The slides he had prepared were projected on a white wall.

  We were holding our breath; David’s was the only voice to be heard.

  The presentation ended in ten minutes. The lights were turned on.

  I went straight to David and hugged him tight.

  He had indeed come up with a unique, unparalleled and richly loaded word for our company. The Oxford dictionary defines it as ‘the chemical element with the atomic number 30, a silvery-white metal which is a constituent of brass and is used for coating (galvanizing) iron and steel to protect against corrosion.’

  It is also a natural nutrient found in food, which helped fight diseases, heal wounds and assist in the growth of the foetus.

  Our new brand would be Zinc.

  A person becomes most restless as he nears his destination. I was like someone who had just sat through an important exam and expected the results to be known in just a few days’ time.

  This was January 2010.

  Having finalized the brand, our Singapore office was working towards making the new company a reality. We had already finalized some projects in Nepal, India, China and Dubai. We bought a building that was under construction in Greater Noida near New Delhi to open our Zinc City hotel. We had also identified land in the Indian cities of Surat and Kochi, and initiated three projects in Nepal. I wanted to open a hotel with a huge mall and other facilities at the place where the Food Corporation’s godown was located at Thapathali in Kathmandu. We were trying to finalize a deal to lease the land while working on the design of the hotel. We were also designing hotels and resorts in Chitwan, and had already identified projects in China and Dubai.

  The Zinc brand was about to take off.

  We designed a website for the company, incorporating information about all the proposed projects. I had Zinc business cards printed, and told all my friends about the new company.

  Unfortunately, destiny had something else in store for us!

  Zinc was forced to make an emergency landing as soon as it took off.

  Eric Levy, whom I had entrusted with building the company, was offered the position of head of global development at the Pan Pacific Group, one of the world’s leading hospitality companies. He could not reject the offer. He moved on, wishing me the best of luck with our new company.

  Without Eric, I felt that one of the pillars of our company had suddenly collapsed. Had the company already been up and running by the time he left, it would not have been so tough. But ours was a fledgling company. As if this was not enough, Jason could not keep pace with me. ‘Establishing a new brand is a huge risk,’ he told me. ‘We can’t afford to take that risk at this point. Instead, we should be forging a partnership with one of the existing global brands.’

  I could not agree with him. We already had partnerships with Taj, CCA and Alila, and if we were to simply enter into new partnerships, there was no point whatsoever in building our own brand.

  Jason and I parted ways.

  Suddenly, I felt my dreams for my own multinational hotel company was coming to nothing. I felt an entire year of hard work had gone to waste. I felt like a king robbed of his kingdom. I had the brand and the projects, but no organization. I had a dream but nobody to help me realize it.

  Zinc had stalled.

  A person feels most dejected when, after a long journey, he falls flat on his face only a few steps short of his destination. I was like a student who could not pass an exam despite studying for an entire year.

  Zinc-InVision

  One day David called me from Bangkok. ‘I’m coming to Kathmandu to see you.’

  He arrived the next day.

  Zinc was David’s brainchild. ‘It should never have been stalled this way,’ he said.


  I knew that of course, but I was helpless about it. How could we run such a huge company?

  ‘Don’t focus on organization,’ David suggested. ‘We have projects, we have a brand, and we have the capacity to mobilize capital, but we lack an organizational structure. There must be someone with a good, existing organization who lacks the other things we have.’

  David wanted us to look for a joint venture with an internationally established company. I had not liked the idea when Jason suggested it, but now I had no choice.

  As David was a hospitality expert, he knew many people in the field and many entrepreneurs in Asia. He introduced me to Michael Thomas, who operated three hotels in Thailand, all making good profits. We held four or five rounds of negotiations, but could not work out a deal.

  I held talks with half a dozen other companies but with no success. Some of them had good organizational structures but could not accept our conditions. Others accepted our conditions but did not have a good enough organizational structure. Eventually I met Chris Stafford, a man who visits Nepal once a year to play elephant polo. He told me, ‘I had a boss, Kevin Beauvais. He has more than thirty years’ experience in the hotel industry. He headed Marriott’s Asian operations for twenty-five years. Then he became the chief executive and director of Minor International PLC. He was the one who established the Four Seasons resort and Anantara brands in Thailand.

  ‘He has now established his own company called InVision after a dispute with Minor International. He’s operating six hotels. He’s a well-respected and established figure in the hospitality industry.’

  I was intrigued. I began to make inquiries about Kevin Beauvais.

  ‘If I’m not mistaken, Kevin is struggling to operate his hotels,’ Chris went on. ‘But he does have a good and strong organization.’

  ‘Should I call him up?’ I asked. Chris gave me Kevin’s telephone number.

  I told all this to David. As soon as he heard Kevin’s name, he was overjoyed.

  ‘I have an excellent relationship with him,’ he said. ‘He’s perfect for you!’

  I was surprised. If Kevin was so perfect for me, why had David not suggested his name earlier?

  ‘I just don’t know,’ he said. ‘Somehow it slipped my mind.’

  Sometimes you run from pillar to post searching for something, oblivious of the fact that it is actually lying at your feet. David immediately talked to Kevin. The next day, I received a message: Kevin Beauvais wanted to meet me. He was coming to Nepal.

  It was late July 2010. I was planning a pilgrimage to Mansarovar, one of the sacred Hindu lakes located in Tibet. Kevin came to Kathmandu. We held talks at our Sanepa corporate office for two hours. I told him clearly, ‘I will be the majority shareholder in the company. Cinnovation will have 51 per cent and InVision 49 per cent.’

  Kevin agreed to those conditions.

  I also said to him, ‘I’m aiming to establish my own brand. To facilitate our merger, we will start by renaming our company Zinc-InVision. Eventually, however, all the properties will be only branded Zinc.’

  I wanted to bring the hotels currently operated by Kevin under the Zinc brand. In other words, I wanted InVision to be merged into Zinc. Kevin accepted this as well. His only condition was that his sub-brand GLOW should continue to exist under the Zinc brand. Today these properties are branded ‘GLOW by Zinc’.

  I accepted his proposal because I saw no point in suddenly destroying an established brand.

  But I had yet another condition: I had to be the senior partner in the company. In return, Kevin would hold the position of chief executive. Even Rahul’s portfolio would be below his.

  ‘We can work out a deal only if you agree to this structure,’ I told Kevin. ‘I’ll give you the status and respect you deserve, and I assure you that the interests of your group will not be compromised. Even my son will report to you. But you have to report to me.’

  In two hours of talks, we chalked out a framework for Zinc-InVision.

  The most important aspect of our partnership is our reciprocal relationship. We do not create properties where Kevin already has his, and vice versa. InVision has a strong organization with thirty-five managers, something we do not have, while we have the experience of working with leading brands such as Taj, CCA and Alila. And, while international financiers are eager to fund Cinnovation, InVision does not have that kind of clout.

  Kevin and I share a common dream. We are equally ambitious and work well together.

  This is how you establish a big company. What is the use of burdening yourself with more of the same things you already have? It is better to aim for something that can significantly expand not only the size of your organization but its capabilities too. In the context of Zinc and InVision, complementary capacities have come together to form a company that is ten times bigger than either individual outfit. This company is headquartered in Bangkok.

  Insofar as Zinc Holdings is concerned, it is a new avatar of Cigen Corporation under the Zinc brand. This company takes care of the equity we have invested in the many hospitality companies/ventures with Taj, Alila, Jetwing, CCA, Amaya, The Farm and IST. The market value of these companies is more than US$500 million today.

  Naturally, all the partners and investors were happy that Zinc Holdings could achieve such a lot within only a few years. They started to urge us to achieve even more, assuring us that they were ready to pump in the necessary capital. This led to the formation of Z-I Capital Partners. This group helps us mobilize capital to establish hotels. It is a mutual fund of both the partners in Zinc-InVision and other financiers, and is headquartered in Singapore.

  Today we are giving the final touches to our projects in many countries in the China–ASEAN subregion, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Africa. We are also searching for another established company—again, one without a strong brand identity, but with a strong organization—to enter the hospitality sector in the Chinese market. Our strategy is to expand our business worldwide.

  However, later, with our acquisition of a majority stake in Concept Hospitality, we decided to have Concept as our brand’s global management company instead of InVision Hospitality.

  Before anything else, we are entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur creates opportunities. He adds a new dimension to a product at the right time and sets a new price for it. And he goes on to woo other investors on the basis of the newly established price. Had we not devised this strategy, we would not have been able to create such a big company. My sons have also been actively engaged in doing this for the last ten years.

  We hear every now and then that global business firms such as the Tatas, Birlas, Reliance or the Mittals have bought projects worth billions of dollars. Actually, others invest for them. They do not invest in these projects themselves. What an entrepreneur does is create confidence in the investor that he can turn something small into something very big. Once he gains that trust, the investor is won over. There are many individuals and organizations in the world that hold huge capital and are always waiting for the right entrepreneur and opportunity to invest. Every bank, every private equity company, every venture capitalist, wants to invest money to earn more. Huge pension funds and insurance companies are sitting on billions of dollars in the international market. All of them want to invest their money to earn more. These capitalists are on the lookout to bet on the strongest horses in the field. The biggest challenge facing an entrepreneur is to establish himself as the strongest horse. If you can convince investors that you are the ace stallion on which they should place their bet, you can go on to fulfil all your dreams.

  Once you start achieving in the field of business, you will see things differently. Instead of one and one adding up to two, you will see the potential for one and one to equal eleven.

  Zinc Holdings is the story of an innovative idea, and the support that idea got from those who believed in it. It has reinforced the universal business truth that if an entrepreneur has a dream, and the resolve and the mana
gerial skill to realize that dream, then capital will never be an impediment.

  Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, New York

  New York’s lively atmosphere and impressive buildings have always inspired me. When I took the first step to expand my business to the United States in 2005, I turned to the Big Apple. In April that year, I had visited New York for an executive programme at the Wharton School of Business. The institution invites senior executives and promoters of companies across the world to attend these month-long executive programmes. Rahul was in the US too, in the fourth year of his studies, and wanted to start his career there. His area of interest was hospitality. I believed that hotels would be the best option for me if I were to start a business in the US.

  Having finished my course at Wharton, I was staying at Taj’s The Pierre in New York. I wanted to travel around the country and explore business opportunities. Though I had been discussing my intentions with Rahul for a long time, we had not yet found an opening. This time around, an interesting development took place.

  Having heard that I was in New York, Sushi Mohinani, son of my friend in Sri Lanka, invited me to lunch at his apartment. Nirvana and I had attended his wedding reception in Bali only a few months ago. Sushil was in the garment business in the US, but in the course of our conversation he told me what he would really like to do. ‘If I got the chance, I’d invest in the hotel industry here,’ he said.

  ‘What do you mean “if I got the chance”?’ I asked.

  ‘I couldn’t possibly run a hotel in a country like the US by myself,’ he said. ‘I’d need a good partner and a good deal as well.’

  ‘In that case, let’s work together,’ Rahul suggested, and both turned to me for my response.

  What could have been a better proposition than jointly launching a hotel in New York with the Mohinanis? They had the experience of working with a leading global brand such as Aman. They were already operating two hotels in Sri Lanka and one in the Indian state of Rajasthan. I had been looking for an experienced and competent partner like Mohinani; to add to that, he was my son’s friend too. All this made the idea very tempting.