CHENNAI: Thirteen years ago, when Pratik Shah returned from the US after completing his education and working with a renowned investment banking company, little did he know what was in store for him. “Optical business wasn’t the plan,” says Pratik, MD, Specsmakers. A set of unforeseen events after his arrival, made Pratik step into his father’s shoes and manage the lens business. “But I adapted to it and I love what I am doing now,” smiles Pratik who spearheaded Specsmakers from its humble beginning in 2005 — a small space at Anna Nagar to a chain of outlets across Chennai, Madurai and Bengaluru. “We are planning to get into Hyderabad,” he says. In a tete-a-tete with CE, Pratik chats about his love for investment banking, being a ‘gadget freak’ and more. Excerpts follow…
How would you describe your career?
It was unplanned and initially I stepped into it reluctantly. I was more into investment, stocks, banking and marketing. During my time in the US, I worked as a research analyst in Morgan Stanley and I credit a huge part of the interest I have in these streams to what I learnt there. But after my arrival here, things changed and I had to manage the wholesale optical business that my father was managing. I think it was just destiny that pulled me into it…but, the journey has been exhilarating. From a single store to 110 stores in the Chennai, 41 stores in Bangalore and about 20 more in Madurai…it does not come easy. I learnt from my mistakes and failures (smiles). I want to expand to 600 stores by 2020.
Do you still pursue your passion?
Of course! I am focused on my business and knowing what’s happening in the industry, how and where to invest is very vital in running it successfully. I do a lot of browsing and reading on investment banking, marketing, entrepreneurship, and retail stories — how they have evolved from their mistakes and so on. At the end of the day,
it’s purely about knowledge gathering and, I am more of a LinkedIn person than a Facebook person!
What’s your typical day like?
After I wake up, I go for morning walk, then get ready for work and juggle with discussions, meetings, visiting stores and finish work by 8:30 pm. After I get home, I am glued to the TV until midnight and I unwind watching movies and comedy channels. I love watching ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ (2006) all the time…I relate to the character of Will Smith on different levels.
About your wife Sonal who runs the business along with you?
Sonal is the COO of the company and is one example of having a strong support system to do and achieve anything. She heads the operations, procurement and designs and we call us a professionally married couple. On Sundays, we spend time away from work. We love visiting malls, going out for lunch and shopping (smiles)
Can you tell us about your love story?
We met in 2001, at a common friend’s house, shortly after which I left to the US. We fell in love and were in a long distance relationship…you can imagine how it would have been — no WhatsApp, no Facetime, and no Skype. We used to pay `28 per minute/per call and Yahoo messenger was a saviour! It wasn’t easy for us and since there was a major time difference, I used to stay up to talk to her after she came back from college in the evening. We paid quite a lot to cellular companies (laughs). I came back to India in 2005 and we got married in 2009…a year later, she joined me in business (smiles).
What are your other interests?
I travel a lot — but, it’s all for business. I wouldn’t call myself a travel enthusiast, but, I am certainly a gadget freak! I keep myself updated about every new gadget and buy them too. My latest buy was the MacBook Pro. We are planning to make our store more tech savvy, wherein software will help people understand product demos and give them a new experience. I like to learn to play golf.
On being a socially responsible firm?
We are hiring people who are deaf, partially blind and also physically disabled in our inventory system. We train them and are also slowly, yet steadily moving towards women driven organisation. I believe that they are more disciplined, service-oriented, passionate about work and their growth.