This 26-year-old serial entrepreneur is the director of 10 firms and supervises 7,000 employees

To say that Tejal Pimpley has business running in her veins would be an understatement. She was born into a business family, but little did she know that her interest would sway from a pile of books and move towards entrepreneurial dreams.

Tejal was all of 20 years old when she began her entrepreneurial journey. She heads CISB (CIS Bureaus Facility Services Pvt. Ltd), a leading and renowned provider of security and facility management solutions and is the director of many other companies such as Green Eco Environment & Energy Pvt Ltd, Mudra Power And Cables Limited, Rein Chemicals & Agro Products, and Shree Samarth Caterers.

She has also set up businesses abroad. She established the Metime Café and Penthouzz, a café and rooftop lounge respectively, besides launching her own dance academy, BYou, in Mumbai. Across all verticals, Tejal is in charge of 7,000 employees.

After completing an MBA in finance, Tejal joined her family business full-time.

“As I turned 18, besides taking forward my regular studies, I shifted part of my focus on my family business and took up the responsibility. My aim was clear: to be the youngest entrepreneur in our family. I had always seen my father work so hard and I wanted to be like him and chase my dreams. Joining him was not a luxury but an opportunity to prove to myself and the world my capabilities and calibre,” she says.

During her teens, Tejal started training with CIS Bureaus Facility Services, a company founded by her father. Within six months, she became a finance executive in the organisation. After handling the company’s daily finance errands for almost a year, she was promoted to finance manager with a role of managing the complete financial affairs of the company. Eventually, she was made director.

Tejal explains the continuation of her journey. She says, “In 2018, I shifted my focus to the F&B sector. On December 2018, I launched my first rooftop lounge in Kandivali called Penthouzz. After receiving an overwhelming response, I launched my first fast-food café, MeTime in Versova in February 2019. The hunger to expand further made me push myself to fulfil one of my biggest childhood dreams: owning a dance studio. In July 2019, I launched B You, my own dance studio. So currently, I am juggling between my company, lounge, café, and the dance studio.”

Changes for the good

During a family holiday to Africa, Tejal found that the farming community needed help to get a higher yield of high-quality crops. She then initiated the distribution of hybrid seeds of vegetables, field crops, organic pesticides, and farming equipment.

“When I looked further into our security business, I realised that many employees across India, especially in rural areas, faced a lot of challenges. I initiated a change in the company by helping open bank accounts for every single employee in the company. This made sure that the money was going into the right accounts of each employee. At present, I am also encouraging young and budding dance enthusiasts with BYou, to showcase their talent and opportunity to grow further in the world of dance and entertainment,” Tejal adds.

Challenges on the road to success

The path has not been an easy one, Tejal says. “Having your own father’s business to take care of is surely a big task. Change is always tough to deal with and it took a while for people to warm up to me. Employees, suppliers, and clients didn’t see me as the ‘boss’. They probably thought that I was a child born with a silver spoon in my mouth,” Tejal says.

“Once you decide to join the family business, this is it for you. Working with my father gave us no separation on time for business and family. It was all a mix. The conflicts at work followed me back home. Running a business has never been easy. It might sound fancy on the outside but it is taxing,” she adds.

With a total investment of about 80 lakh in various businesses including Penthouzs, MeTime, and BYou, Tejal has been able to clock Rs 20 crore in revenue.

Tejal believes she is still in the initial stage of her entrepreneurial journey and feels she has a long way to go. “There have been many highs and lows, and there will be more to come. However, the biggest high up till now has been when I won a single contract worth Rs 10 crore in spite of facing ample competition. The lowest low was when I missed a very good business opportunity of a leading company due to unavoidable circumstances.”

Tejal’s plan for the future is to have a successful and established business in India and Africa. “The aim is to help and support the industry, generate employment, and provide outstanding quality products and services at affordable cost,” she says.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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