Mr. Sahil Virani is the Managing Partner of Empire Realty. He has a rich vein of experience in the real estate industry. After completing his MBA in Marketing and International Business from Amity business school in 2011, Mr. Sahil Virani started his entrepreneurial Venture called Wisemen realty which achieved massive success as one of the leading real estate mandate firms in Mumbai.
Having a combined wealth of experience of more than 40 years in the real estate industry of his family and delivery of more than 10 lac sq. feet, Mr. Sahil Virani in the year 2018 decided to Re-Brand Virani Group of companies as Empire realty โ Virani group which is also now one of the emerging brands in Re-development industry of Mumbai.
Icy Tales is in conversation with the CEO of Empire Realty, Mr. Sahil Virani about his journey and a lot more.
Q) What is your favorite part of working in real estate?
Sahil Viraniโ My favorite part of working in the real estate industry is that you get to meet a lot of new people. Different types of people from various ethnic backgrounds speak different languages and the best part about it is that everyone has a single need which is a place that they can call a โHOMEโ. And most importantly for that home, everyone has a lot of particular plans and special ideas which gives you an insight into how important a home is for people.
A house is a personโs whole life savings, whenever someone is booking a house with you then they have a lot of other factors in their minds, such as loan amount, childโs education, funding, and a lot of other things.
So when you are interacting with someone it gives you an insight into a common manโs problems, especially in a city like Mumbai, where real estate prices are so high. Owning a house in Mumbai is everyoneโs dream but itโs very tough. Therefore when you are working in such a field, every client is different and gives you a new experience that is very fascinating, enlighting, and knowledgeable.
Q) What qualities do you believe make up an effective leader?
Sahil Viraniโ In my opinion, a leader should always lead from the front. I strongly believe that a good company is run by a leader who is always ready at the front of the line and not at the back. A lot of employees look up to you as an example of your work ethic, etiquette in the office, the way you conduct yourself, and a lot of other things. As a leader, you need to put a lasting image in the minds of your employees.
Also as an effective leader you need to soothe the work environment and make your employees and firm feel like a family which gives your employees a sense of belongingness, consequently increasing their productivity.
Q) What Is The Biggest Challenge You faced when you initially started?
Sahil Viraniโ The biggest challenge I faced when I initially started was Covid-19. When I took over my first project that is Empire Towers in Goregaon, Mumbai, It was 31 August 2020, I canโt ever forget this date, all the lockdowns were happening, and we did all of our homework during the COVID period like the plans, blueprints and all but suddenly everything came to a halt. There were rules laid by the government in terms of limited working hours, regular testing of all the employees, and a lot of other new normal guidelines.
In a city like Mumbai, that too in the real estate sector, there is a mixture of unorganized employees and organized employees. This mixture of both these structures leads to the utmost problem in tracking the tests of employees. The other problem was the sales, after the pandemic people almost went into their shells, and they were onto the wait-and-watch approach. Consequently, we were also riding the wave and trying our best to survive, it was a kind of jittery situation. But I think God was kind and we pulled it off and now I can say that we are reaping the rewards.
Q) Do you have a hobby outside of work that helps you be a better leader?
Sahil Viraniโ Yes, I am a fitness freak. My day starts at 6 am, after completing my fatherโs duties and dropping my kids at school, I dedicatedly give my 1 hour to the gym for the wellness of my mind and my body. In my opinion, if you are physically and mentally fit then you can increase your productivity at the workplace, and helps you to take everything positively. And also the golden rule of life is that Health is Wealth, one can have a truckload of money but if you donโt have good health to enjoy that then what is the use?
Therefore, I love being fit. Apart from that, I love to explore and travel around the globe which makes me insight into different cultures and backgrounds. When one visits Switzerland, the gothic designs and those cobble streets can give you a lot of new ideas and inspires me to do something along the lines of my project in Mumbai as well.
Q) As we all witnessed during covid, the real-estate was the worst hit sector of all, how did Empire realty cope with that, and what are the major changes you brought after the lockdown?
Sahil Viraniโ One of the major changes I brought down during lockdown was especially giving flexible working hours to my employees. Initially, there used to be restrained working hours, we used to work from 10 to 7 but from then onwards we have flexible working hours for our staff or the work-from-home facility.
Secondly, the well-being of the staff is very important so we understood the importance of human resources. You need to understand that you cannot automate and mechanize humans. Humans with soft interpersonal skills are the actual asset of the company. And as an employer, you need to make sure that your employees are in the right state of mind to work for you.
You need to have employee benefit programs and regular get-togethers to make sure that they feel at home and they develop a strong bond among themselves.
During COVID time there was a lot of uncertainty in this sector, people were not getting their salaries and a lot of other things which made the relationship between employer and employee sour. So as a result what we have done is that we bridge the gap between the same, we made them feel at home and made sure that they take this company as their own.
One need to do all of these because your employees are the one who will run this company at the grassroots level which ultimately makes your life very easy as an employer. Sitting here and managing them would be very easy and as an employer, I can focus on many more opportunities which come along the way.
Q) You are associated with Empire Realty for a pretty long time. What changes did you experience in the working culture from that to the present time?
Sahil Viraniโ The most significant change that I have seen in these years is in organization skills and management. When this company is then known, as Virani builders were started by my late grandfather in the year 1974, they had a very different working culture. I noticed that every 10 years there is a lot of change in the organizational sector of the company since you have to change with time. Time dictates what you need to do and what you donโt need to do. Customer liking has completely changed over time so you need to adapt yourself to the same.
Back then the customerโs approach would be very different, they didnโt get into the integrity of things but now itโs very different they know everything. They come to you with your records so there is no hiding which was not the case earlier as it was all based on trust. The need of the hour is a very strong CRM team which I am blessed with. When as an employer you are approachable to all of your teams it built a lot of trust between you and them, which makes the journey a bit easier.
Q) As we see the ongoing hustle culture where people especially in the corporate are not able to take out time for themselves, what are your views on that and how should people find a balance?
Sahil Viraniโ I think people who are really into the corporate culture should take their house visits as a meeting. The way I look at it is, post 7 oโclock I have a meeting with my kids and my wife and when I am meeting them I donโt attend to anybody else. You need to differentiate when you need to switch on and off.
Especially in the real estate industry, a lot is going on, acquisition and tenders so you need to regenerate your energy again and again, and for the regenerating family is very important, so you need to make sure when you are with them your mind is switched off because if you are not refueling your mind and body enough at regular intervals, you will burn out very quickly.
I have met people who have slowed down after a certain period for no reason. The only reason was that they were just going on and on without even regenerating themselves. From long-term perspective if you need to sustain for the next 15 to 20 years I think you need to strike a balance and take everything as a part of a meeting and your day and be strict with it
Q) As we saw some big startup giants gaining a lot of appreciation for thinking about their employeeโs mental health by giving them days off to get some quality time, what are your views on it and how well it should be incorporated by all companies?
Sahil Viraniโ I will again retreat that employees or human resources are the real fuel of the company. They need to be in a good state of mind and need to be taken care of. If I talk about my company, we tend to shuffle our staff a lot so that they can get on-the-job training in a lot of different fields and they can have holistic development.
The motive of this job rotation policy is that the life of an employee could become less monotonous. I keep on shuffling them so they have something new to look up to and they have something new to learn and when an employee learns new things, the human resource tends to grow, if they grow, you also grow.
I look at it in a way that in a company everyone should know everything because a company should never be handicapped or dependent on one certain department. Because if the company is dependent on a certain unit then if there is a collapse in that unit the whole company is going to collapse. So we can do these casual job rotations.
Emerging from a family of developers, Mr. Sahil Virani is now the face of next-generation developers in the industry. Empire Realty (Virani Group) views construction as a passion rather than a business. Every single one of its projects spread across 8 lakh sq. feet demonstrates Empireโs dedication.
As its reputation is on the line, the team at Empire Realty takes great care to employ only high-quality components and adhere to rigorous aesthetic criteria. Buildings by Empire are created to be the best and most attractive in the world.
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