“Jai Mulani, the Chief Executive Officer of IBT, is a leader with a history of working in the Technology & BPO industry.”
Jai Mulani, the Chief Executive Officer of IBT, is a leader with a history of working in the Technology & BPO industry. He is skilled in scaling a business from scratch to making it a multimillion with in-depth knowledge and experience in business processes, business planning, P & L Management, Global Expansion, & Driving business towards growth. Jai Mulani is a strong personality & professional with a mindset of making it happen!
Our interview with Mr. Jai Mulani helped us understand how he faced and tackled all the hurdles that came in the way as an entrepreneur. Furthermore, we also got to know about his company, IBT, which is the number 1 BPO Company in the Middle East. The company has an online presence on Facebook, and LinkedIn
Let’s learn more about Jai’s journey through our interview below.
Mr. Jai Mulani, tell us something about your journey.
I came to Dubai back in 2003 when I was just 19 years old. My first job was in a retail group as an IT Engineer, for the pay of AED 1500. I worked there for a year and then moved to another technology company in 2004. I worked there for four years. Starting as a sales executive, and based on performance and leadership skills, I got multiple promotions and led the Sales Team as a Sales Director.
By 2009, I started my company with not much money in my bank account. The world was going through a recession when I started IBT. Every month was a survival challenge until the end of 2010. From then on, we started our growth trajectory.
As an entrepreneur, what challenges have you faced while establishing your business?
I started my business with bootstrap and didn’t look for loans or fundraising. Retaining people was hard during the initial period. Every employee wants to work for an established business, where they are more secure, processes are in place, and their profile is more structured. As a startup, it was difficult for me to retain talent. However, I shared my vision with several of them, and they are still here with me, even today.
The other worry was finance. It was very challenging to rotate funds and survive those times. During 2009, the recession hit hard on every company, so every business wanted credit terms with lower pricing. So, it was challenging to evaluate projects and forecast the payment cycle. But I was successful in managing and surviving those times.
Explain a bit more of the vision of your company.
IBT is one of the biggest technology and outsourcing companies in the Middle East. We offer end-to-end technology and process outsourcing solutions to medium to large enterprises. Our vision is to become the largest company in the technology & outsourcing space.
How has the current pandemic affected your business?
Pandemic has changed the business dimensions completely for every company. We always planned and spoke about digital transformation, but this situation sped up it. We had to change and add many strategies throughout this time and continue to grow.
We allowed all employees to work from home with the same level of support, KPIs and SLAs delivered to our customers. In addition, for our customers, we offered free support for three months.
According to you, what are the essentials of being an inspiring business leader?
Leadership is a very vast term, and everyone will have their definition of it. For me, leadership has four zones. They are survival, growth, sustainability, and crisis management. If you can move through all these zones effectively and keep growing your business, then you are a leader.
Can you give a word of advice for the upcoming entrepreneurs?
I would like to give two pieces of advice to upcoming entrepreneurs. The first is that “They must be passionate about what they are trying to achieve.” If you are not passionate about something, don’t do it. And the second piece of advice is “Do not worry about mistakes or failures.”
What’s next for you?
IBT has a great potential to grow and become a global company in the next eight years. We intend to keep innovating as we move forward. Innovation has become a necessity for any business. Gone are the days when you start a business and keep doing the same thing. Today, if you are not innovating, you might be out of business. Technology is transforming. Every business needs to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the consumer.
Connect with Jai Mulani on LinkedIn!