In recent years Gurgaon, India -- once a sleepy suburb of New Delhi -- has emerged as a business center in its own right, bustling with corporations setting up shop, ambitious real estate developments, and new upscale restaurants. The city is the perfect market for 37-year old Jayant Singh, an entrepreneurial hotel consultant who launched International Hospitality Partners, a service-industry consultancy in Gurgaon.
"Every 10 or 15 days, the entire landscape of Gurgaon is changing. There's some kind of construction happening around at all times," Singh said. "So it makes perfect strategic sense for us to be there."
Today, IHP is capitalizing on the business boom in its home city by helping hotels, restaurants, corporate cafeterias, and other service-sector companies hire and train employees. The company also will help its customers design their facilities, even help plan menus. Singh and a partner also opened a wine center to train sommeliers and wine stewards, a profession that was almost unheard of in India just a few years ago.
For Singh, who worked as a marketing executive for the Taj Hotel group for four years, IHP is the perfect vehicle for combining his expertise and his entrepreneurial instincts. A decade ago, he tried his hand as a dot-com founder, launching a discount travel website called Razorfinish.com that ultimately failed.
And while IHP has more than enough business to keep Singh hopping -- he's currently in negotiations to manage other hotels -- he's still pursuing opportunities to use technology to improve the hospitality business. Last year, he started a job search website for restaurateurs looking to hire chefs. He hopes the website will be profitable within a year, with revenues from firms looking for new employees.
"You cannot think of short-term success," Singh said. "You have to see where the opportunities lie and take business risks. Everything we've done successfully came from taking a risk."
Looking for smart labor, solid infrastructure, and potential customers? Here are 15 markets to put on the map.
