Abhimanyu Jakhar is a young entrepreneur who decided to enter the hospitality industry after completing his mechanical engineering. He is a founding partner at Diablo, a resto-bar in South Bombay. Not many people would know that he is also a part of the shipbuilding industry. Although both industries have their challenges, we spoke to him more about the idea behind starting them and his plans for expansion:
How did the idea of shipbuilding occur to you?
I was in my college studying mechanical engineering when I had an idea for a problem in the shipbuilding industry in the country. The overall process of building ships in the country has had and still has many challenges and the idea with which SOC (Santosh offshore consultants) was made aimed specifically to optimize this process by tackling the challenges faced.
SOC deals with not only planning and production but also designing, marketing, spares, etc of different kinds of vessels.
The way we have been able to change the overall process of building through our company has shown the industry a new method route bringing optimisation to the entire process.
Currently, with operations all over India, we aim to move ahead to Singapore and the Middle East this year.
What are the similarities and differences in the hospitality and shipping industry, and how do you manage them?
Both of my companies’ shipping and hospitality are born out of passion but are completely different from each other. Shipbuilding is a wolf’s game with market cutthroat and challenging while the hospitality industry is still something that’s taking its shape but has immense growth potential. It’s still something that will have its development and evolution over the coming years.
Both businesses have certain similarities that u can find in the basics of any business but the correlation is not much on any scale.
Which one do you prefer over the other?
Shipping is something that provides me the adrenaline rush with the tussles in the challenging market but hospitality is still something I have a soft heart towards. I entered the hospitality sector during the pandemic which was a mad move if u now think about it considering the uncertainties that were there in consideration of the future of this industry during post-pandemic but I had a heart full of passion for this particular industry and still have and thus the expansion plans for this industry is very aggressive on a large scale.
Which industry would you be interested in expanding more and do you see growth in the future?
I see growth in both industries. I love doing both and there are different things I love in both. Both industries have so much to offer and with the expansion planned to Singapore and the Middle East for shipping, for hospitality, the aim is to bring multiple brands across the country and the globe aggressively forward.
