Designing A Growth Strategy

WHEN 22-year-old architect Gita Ramanan stepped into a meeting room one afternoon to make a presentation to 18 men seated around the table, she was asked: “When is your boss coming?”

- Saad Ahmed

Having recently been selected from among 150 entrants for a competition to design a complex of 800 apartments, she gently broke it to them that she was in charge.

Thirteen years later, she still reigns—at Design Café, an interiors firm in Bangalore with over 700 employees and 5,000 clients that she founded with her partner Shezan Bojani. “At first, whenever I went to a site, there were men with 20 years of experience who constantly tried to assess what I knew. It’s a rite of passage for female designers,” says Ramanan.

“Initially, it was hard to convince investors that I was heading the firm. So we sent Shezan for the first set of meetings. Only when they showed interest would I come in the picture. Many women cannot progress when they hit a glass ceiling and if sharing my experience helps them, I must do it. It is hard for women, especially in the real estate industry, though we are now being taken more seriously as professionals.” But the gender issue does not really affect her. “I come from a family with educated working women, so I don’t think of myself as a female entrepreneur.”

Ramanan believes in ‘democratising’ design—her initial lofty mission—and using optimum material. “I still don’t know why certain Italian kitchens cost Rs 15 lakh, but I do know that I can give you the same finish for Rs 3 lakh,” says the woman whose startup offers personalised design solutions for homes at affordable prices.