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WOMEN OF THE WEEK

Service with a smile

Corporate housekeeping is tough business. And Simmiy Malhotra, CEO, Unicorn Services, has survived several odds

PHOTO: R. SHIVAJI RAO

SAILING WITH THE WIND Simmiy Malhotra

If your maid is irregular to work, does a sloppy job and would quit without notice, say "Hi" to Simmiy Malhotra, CEO, Unicorn Services, who manages 400 people doing what your maid does. She still smiles. She also talks. About things personal and professional. High points and hammerings. A lot of entrepreneurs wouldn't whisper half of what she says. Guess Simmiy knows how to take flak. In the 15 years she has run her corporate housekeeping outfit, she has been up against every crisis you can think of. And some you can't. Her marriage crumbled and business went downhill. The economy opened up bringing with it a host of new problems. The manpower she has is difficult to handle. She has to deal with clients not known for good manners.

She begins with her background. With a few friends from Good Shepherd, she went to the Institute of Hotel Management, Taramani, got her diploma, interned at Holiday Inn and joined Chola after graduation only to discover that in terms of opportunities in hotel management, housekeeping was a thankless part. When passed up for manager, she relocated to Ambassador to do renovation, got married and had a kid. Full-time work and kid sent life into a tizzy. A part-time job would be fine, so why not janitorial services?

At a cousin's suggestion, she met the British Airways boss. Soon, she was trooping down to the BA office at Alsa Mall for a 2-hour cleaning job with a couple of boys in tow. Lintas was next and when she made a presentation at Citibank, she was asked if she could run a guesthouse. She could and she was in business.

In 1990-91 she turned pro. And her marriage hit the rocks. "I should have consolidated my business at this time," she rues. "There was no competition and clients were expanding their business. I should have got a person with business development skills." For three years her business went waffling. One of her staff swindled her, leaving her financially adrift. Divorce was through in 1995 and she had to regroup. Stubbornly, she went about putting her act together.

It's been a business yo-yo since then. Business models changed, administration guys in companies cut in to buy equipment and run the cleaning business themselves. The arrival of MNCs and ITES in high-rise offices meant more spaces to maintain, but they brought overseas Facility Managers and Simmiy had to settle for sub-contracts. Competition, undercutting and poaching reduced it all to a dirty business. When the economy pushed back in 2002-2003, Simmiy was butting heads with middle level managers for whom her expertise had no value and MNCs which wouldn't clear bills on time. "I had a crazy time paying salaries and statutory compensation to my staff." Giving it all up did cross her mind, but she stuck on, and has "turned it around now."

Monday blues are real for her. "You never know who has quit. No cleaners are around during Pongal holidays either, never mind you have a 24/7 BPO contract. There is infighting, politics. Smaller offices pay them to do personal chores, absorb them and end the contract. Of course, there are people who treat you like a partner, not as a vendor."

Is it a gender thing? Gender is not an issue to run the show, "but you need to interact with tough clients. Sniff out kickbacks. If you are single, creepy ones make a pass. One extra factor is the language used at the cleaners. You need people who can handle all this." She has diversified into providing guesthouses and service apartments. "My dad helps me full time. If I don't do well what is my future? I don't think I can work 9 to 5, face bad bosses."

She says, "I don't know how I've managed to survive."

She is part of Shrishti that works for children's education. She has also put in place a management information system, which would "thrill an ISO guy".

GEETA PADMANABHAN

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