Women are now concentrating on the joys of their profession rather than its difficulties. The aggressive nature and the focus they have towards their business is taking women to the top leadership roles across industries. One such women leader in the male bastion of real estate is Haritha Gogineni, the founder of Aaha Realtors, a one stop solution for the property needs.
Haritha, a BSC graduate comes in with over 17 years of experience in various sectors such as Admiration/Customer Care, IT, and real-estate has transformed into a successful entrepreneur. Her professional and entrepreneurial journey hasn't been anything less than a rollercoaster ride. Hailing from a village, this brave business woman has mitigated all the challenges and has risen to the very top. In an exclusive interview with the Women Entrepreneur Team, Haritha shares her meandering entrepreneurial journey and advices one and all to be bound to the morals and ethics.
Introduce Us To Aaha Realtors. What Have Been Some Of The Most Significant Milestones Achieved By The Firm That Have Been The Most Satisfying For You As The Owner?
We started Aaha Realtors in October 2019, it is purely mediating agency. Later I started AaHa Estate and Farms Pvt Ltd. We take care of complete real estate lifecycle, we buy, sell, register, mediate for other properties and we also take care of property management. We aim to provide end to end services for our clients and it is a one stop solution for all property needs.
Aaha Realtors was started in October 2019, in the month of March 2020 I gave a first token to my own project but unfortunately within two days there was nationwide lockdown due to Covid and that was the first hurdle in my startup journey. But we still continued our work, made all the arrangement for the land, drawings and designs. Once the lockdown was lifted we started our operations. Post this, fortunately the demand for land increased, especially in Hyderabad. I could successfully launch my project in December 2020 and launched sales in Feb 2021. But during the second lockdown our business was affected. However, we did not let the pandemic affect continue; we tried harder to bring our business back to track. Though there are ups and downs, surely we will rise to the top.
Take Us Through Your Early Educational Journey And Prior Industry Experience. What Factors Led You Towards The Real Estate Industry, A Field That Is Still Considered A Male Bastion?
Being born to a middle class family in a small village, I went to school only till 12th post which I took up the family financial responsibility. My career started from being a school teacher to admin field, BPO and then to IT field finally. There I worked with IBM and then went to the U.S. where I worked for six years. In January 2014 I moved back to India. While I still continued working for IT, I got an offer from a real estate firm. In the middle of doing all these I completed my graduation through distance learning. Now I am pursuing an MBA as well.
“We human beings learn, earn and eat, but we should be accountable to whatever we earn”
In 2014, I worked as the CEO for a real estate firm for a year but I did not receive any promised monetary benefits so I decided to move on to other projects. Changing almost three companies, I landed up with nothing in my hand other than experience. I then setup my own firm called VS Creations, a branding and marketing company. My ability of building a brand quickly took me into the market. We received a very big project within two months of inception which was planned, designed and launched with the media. But unfortunately the project stopped even before we started marketing. However these challenges didn't deter me; I got another project and worked on it without compromising.
In 2019 I was offered the role of Vice President for sales and marketing team of a big company. Although there was no financial betrayal here, but their standards were against my moral ethics. So with good deeds I came out of the company and started my own business. I worked on my own projects and now I also mediate for complete approved and ready to occupy projects.
What Is The Roadmap Ahead For The Company's New Growth Phase? Are You Looking To Foray Into Any New Business Avenues?
The field of real estate is very dynamic and at the same time highly unorganized, especially in south India. When I started on my own I started with a very clear purpose. We wanted to give honest, transparent and professional services by following morals and ethics. I have already taken up 80 acre land project and I would complete it by end of this year, even if there is third wave.
I am also planning to enter into the construction filed, in the next five years. I want to use various building concepts in my constructions. In my six year stay in the U.S., I have seen several designs, technologies, and construction styles. In India we still have lot of scope because here we can see all kind of facilities only in big luxury homes and investments. But we can have all the facilities in economic package as well. So I would like to design the best incorporating Vasthu at fair price.
As of now we are only doing mediating and we haven't started our own constructions. Definitely in the coming years when we move into construction we would incorporate the technologies.
What Would Your Words Of Advice Be For Women Aspiring To Foray Into The Field Of Real Estate And As Entrepreneurs?
We human beings learn, earn and eat, but we should be accountable to whatever we earn, this is one thing that I follow and insist others to follow as well. Do whatever you want to earn but, with morals and ethics kept intact. We should be transparent to our clients, don't hide anything from them. Irrespective of gender, to all the entrepreneurs out there, I advice to be accountable and answerable to whatever you earn to either the public or government.
