Greg Moran was swamped with ideas and business models while in college. Looking at self-drive car rental chains like Zipcar in the US, he figured why not try it in India. And that’s how Zoomcar began. Partnering with David Back, who studied with him at the University of Pennsylvania in 2003, Zoomcar is India’s first 100 per cent self-drive car rental company, which allows individuals to rent cars by the hour, day, week, or month. “We have seen exponential growth since our launch in 2013. Having started in Bangalore, we are now present in six cities, and will be adding 7,000 new cars to our existing fleet of 1,500 cars. We also hope to open up in 15 new cities,” says Greg about his expansion plans.
Zoomcar’s services are spread across Bangalore, Pune, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai. Their cars range from hatchbacks to SUVs to luxury cars including the Ford Ecosport, Honda City, Mahindra XUV 500, Tata Nano, BMW 3 series and the Mercedes A class. They have also designed special packages like Zoom Commute that offer a range of cars for weekly use — an affordable alternative to owning cars. Zoomcar will also be launching doorstep services, where cars can be dropped and picked up at the customers’ choice of location.
Before venturing out, Greg had worked in various financial, operational, and strategic roles within the international energy and infrastructure sectors, where he was involved with projects on six continents, totalling over $12 billion.
Born and brought up in the suburbs of New York City, Greg went to the University of Pennsylvania for a BA in International Relations. Greg is also a concert pianist, which taught him about tenacity, an important characteristic for managing a business in India.
— rohit@learnbizsimulations.com