Gen-Next

Pride, without prejudice

He is young, dynamic, and promising. Satyen Jain, CEO of Pride Group of hotels, is focused on taking the group to greater heights. By Dinkar Farwaha

Satyen Jain isn't your regular new generation entrepreneur. Along with an excellent academic background and the right blend of theoretical and practical knowledge backing him like many of his equivalents, he is modest, polite and grounded.

Jain was born and brought up in Mumbai, where he did his schooling from Greenlawns High School. He was always inclined to follow his father's (SP Jain) footsteps and carve a niche for himself in the world of hospitality. However, once he finished school, his topmost priority was to build strong fundamentals by means of a sound academic background. Commerce was a subject which really fascinated him and he therefore decided to pursue a bachelor's degree in the stream from HR College of Commerce & Economics. In order to get a professional insight into the commercial world, he also enrolled for a chartered accountancy (CA) degree. Incidentally, his father too (who he believes is a visionary and whom he calls his undoubted idol) is a qualified CA.

Subsequently, he pursued training for two years at Deloitte & Touche, spending the remaining one year of the required training at a tax firm. Degree complete, he worked for a year in his family's construction company in Pune. To his credit, he was involved with the setting-up of the first IT building in the city there and was responsible for developing a couple of residential complexes as well.

At long last, having sufficiently gained insight into the real estate business, Jain joined his father at The Pride Group of Hotels. The first task in hand was to renovate and set up new rooms at the Nagpur property. Under his watchful eyes, the group added 30 rooms, a coffee shop and a restaurant there. His next assignment was to develop a 115-room five-star property in Ahmedabad from scratch. From negotiations, to signing the deal, to appointing consultants and finally executing the plan, Jain handled every aspect of the project.

Taking the brand further

Under Jain, the group has developed four five-star properties (Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Chennai). With its aggressive expansion growth, the group is also in the process of developing five-star properties in Bangalore, Goa, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Having thus made its presence felt in the west and south, the group is now looking to leverage its brand, and develop properties in the north as well.

It plans to build 14 new five-star hotels in the coming decade. "We will be building five-star properties in Delhi and Gurgaon once we go public," informs Jain. The group is also adding rooms to its current properties - 73 more rooms will be added to its Nagpur property and 50 each to its Pune and Ahmedabad properties. "From 438 rooms we plan to have 1,200 rooms in our five-star properties by 2010," adds Jain. The group is also in the process of building a 125-room resort in Alibaug, which it plans to open by 2009.

The company is looking at an investment of Rs 350 crore for the above expansion. Recently, Kotak India Real Estate Fund acquired an 11.11 per cent stake in the group, at a cost of Rs 45 crore. The group will shortly be going public and will be raising part of its required funds via an IPO.

Jain's ambition of establishing the Pride Group as a force to reckon with in the industry is further reflected when he states, "The gap between five-star and economy hotels in the country is huge. We have decided to bridge this gap with our newly launched three-star brand Biznotel for which we are targeting tier II and III cities." Accordingly, the first property is scheduled to begin operations in Pune by December this year.

When Jain is not busy re-working strategies, he is spending time with his family. He recently tied the knot with Shraddhaa, who is an MBA graduate. When asked whether marriage has changed him as a person, he replies, “I haven't changed as a person but I guess I have become more responsible." Jain also loves adventure sports, scuba-diving being his favourite one. As far as the future is concerned, he passionately declares, "I intend to fly the Pride flag as high as I can."