On International Women’s Day, Yeoh Siew Hoon speaks to Deep Kalra, CEO & co-founder of MakeMyTrip, on the people who make his company tick and how the integration with Ibibo Group will affect the culture of this first Indian OTA to go public on the NASDAQ in 2010.
“Come meet my most inspiring colleague,” says Deep Kalra, CEO and co-founder of MakeMyTrip, as he walks me through his offices in Gurgaon, Delhi.
We walk through an open plan office packed with mostly young people, predominantly male. I am told the gender split across the board is about 70/30 male/female but gets more dismal at leadership level which is all-male.
But that’s for the later part of the story.
For now, Deep, who’s fanatical about corporate culture and whose company, founded in 2000, has won several HR awards in India, takes me to the product and IT section of the office.
Deep Kalra (right) with Sidharth
“Meet Sidharth,” says Deep. “There is no one more inspiring than him. When I have a hard day, I come to see Sid and he always cheers me up. And every now and then, he sends me inspiring messages.”
Sid, who has multiple sclerosis, joined as an intern 3.5 years ago. “He applied for an internship with us and we accepted, unaware he had a disability. He was so enthusiastic and capable that he’s just stayed on. He does good work. All we had to do was build him a stool so he can type with his feet.”
Sid was in particularly good spirits the day I visited. He’s preparing to give a motivational speech at a school – his work at MMT has made him quite a sought-after speaker on the local school circuit.
Sid a popular speaker at school circuit
When Deep told me he worked in mobile QA, Sid corrected his CEO and said proudly, “I am now working in mobile development.”
There was a time when Deep knew every name and what everyone did, but in the last few years, as MMT has grown organically and through acquisitions – it’s now 2,000-staff strong, spread over three floors – he’s accepted the fact that it’s impossible to know everyone by name.
“I was very uncomfortable when I realised I didn’t know half the people but I have made peace with that now,” says Deep. “Not everybody can be as passionate as we are – as long as your senior leadership team members are your culture ambassadors, that works.”
And grateful employees like Sid, of course.
“Not only does he do good work and he’s so proud of what he does, but he now feels he has purpose and is contributing towards the family’s income. It’s really good for our staff too – it teaches everyone to be kinder.”
Deep says Sid has inspired the company to hire more people with disabilities. “It makes good business sense. They work hard, and everyone feels good.”
We then got around to discussing the absence of women in leadership and I ask if he had thought of setting a hard target like some companies such as Expedia or AccorHotels have.
“Yes, we haven’t done well there – beyond VP, we struggle – and yes, maybe setting a hard target might work, that’s a great idea,” says Deep. “We do need diversity in leadership, that’s important for business, helps us see things from different perspectives.
“We had a woman in HR but that didn’t work out. We wanted a woman in marketing but a tech company has long hours and the work is grueling.”
It did have a surprising breakthrough in hiring women though as travel consultants in its holidays business. “We had customers calling us with enquiries and we thought, why don’t we get women as travel consultants and get them to work from home? We give them the leads and they take the calls.”
Part of the 2,000 staff at MMT
Today MMT has about 650 women travel consultants, with MMT IDs, on its payroll.
I asked Deep what he thought of the mantra of CEOs who say “hire smarter people than you”.
“I say that too, but it’s hard to do that especially for senior managers who may not want to be challenged too much. Founders however should do it without fear.
“At some point, everyone hits a celling and maybe I have too – I have to know where I am wanted and where I am not.”
Well, with the merger with Ibibio Group, finalised last October 18, and the current integration going on – both companies are moving into new, bigger offices next month – it is clear Deep is still very much needed and wanted to ensure a smooth integration and blending of cultures.
“Everyone talks about the culture fit and we are aware of that. What we have done is created about 100 projects, blended the teams so everyone has a project to work on and while the integration is going on, we ensure that everyone has a meaningful of innovating and experimenting.
“If we do this right, this could be the most creative period in MMT’s history.”