At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavour, we invited Harshitha Singaraju for an exclusive interview with us. Harshitha is a Leader, Entrepreneur, Mentor, Director and Co-founder of Amoura ConSol. She is also the Co-Founder of Misire Technologies. Let’s learn more about her incredible journey, her background, and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Harshitha:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as a women entrepreneur, please;
I did my schooling from Raman High School in Warangal and further pursued engineering from the prestigious National Institute of Technology, Surathkal, Karnataka.
Then, I got placed into KNK Constructions Pvt Ltd, a general contracting company in Bangalore where I worked in the business development and tendering department for a year before pursuing my masters.
I completed my master’s in project management at The University of New South Wales, Sydney which is ranked among the top 50 universities for civil engineering in the world.
There were a lot of people who said civil engineering was not for girls, you won’t get good paying jobs in this field, it’s better to do an IT job where you can make a lot of money but till today, I feel choosing civil engineering is the best decision I have ever made.”
While everything people say is true, I think it’s time to change the way this industry works and show people that gender should not be the reason one should choose not to do something with their career.
During my time in Australia, I met my co-founders who were pursuing master’s at UNSW and were working part-time at a stone masonry company. A small sub-contractor employing 3 estimators to tender for jobs and paying a lot of money for a small amount of work.
We saw an opportunity to start something on our own and the four of us came together to start a small freelancing firm and called ourselves Amoura freelancers, and today that is the Amoura ConSol which is providing employment to almost 50 people in different developing nations including India.”
We have also founded “Misire Technologies” where we create products for catalyzing the digitization process in the construction industry. We have built simple tools to address the problems faced by all the stakeholders in this industry.
Currently, we are in the process of launching “Tradiemap” which is a simple and minimalistic business management tool for the sub-contractors of construction industry which will bring in the much-required efficiency and also help builders and contractors in bringing in organization to their projects.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
Coming from a middle-income group family, entrepreneurship was not the first thing that comes to your mind after your parents put lakhs of money into your education. More than me choosing entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship chose me. Once, I saw the impact I could make being a women founder, there was no turning back.
For many people, being an entrepreneur is a fancy word, but for me it’s the path with tremendous struggle, working late nights, figuring out stuff which you never knew before and making things work because they have to, otherwise there is no food on the table.”
Being immigrants and having huge student loans, all of us had to do part-time jobs to survive in Australia and at the same time grow our business. When we started Amoura ConSol, our typical days used to look like this: 6 AM to 6 PM – Amoura’s work; 7 PM to 12 AM – Part-time jobs.
We never had a weekend off, or never had the time to go out for dinner with friends. But the day we landed our first client, all this effort felt like nothing. The rush you feel when you get your first client is the happiest feeling in the world and no words can describe it. So, when people ask why an entrepreneur, I say why not?
‘Amoura Consol’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving?
Amoura means love and affection, ConSol means Construction Solutions. We stumbled upon the word by accident, and the name created an instant connection with us. Our business name reflects the association we maintain with our clients and also creates a unique branding for us in the industry.
There is a severe gap of communication and unorganized process flow between different stakeholders of the construction industry. We founded Amoura ConSol, to bridge that gap and have come a long way since we started.
We work with builders, developers and sub-contractors of the industry by providing them with pre-tender and post-tender contract administration such as Business Development, Project Estimation, Budget costing, Risk Analysis, Project planning and contract liaising.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
We started our business during the pandemic, during Covid-19 there were lesser employees who were willing to go to the office and construction workers and employees were always at risk to go to the site to handle their projects.
~ Our business model consists of a lean team which is not at all resource-heavy and has minimal overheads.
~ The freelancer model ensures each and every work can be handled remotely, where we don’t need to do physical meetings.
~ Every aspect of the business is online and tech-enabled to ensure automation as much as possible.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
According to me, to achieve anything in life, one has to face challenges. Nothing comes easy in life, it’s just the way we perceive life is what defines us. When I decided to pursue civil engineering, there were many people who said that it’s not for women and that I will not be able to find a job and sustain in life.
But I persisted and my father trusted me and encouraged me saying that a person should always be free to choose what they want to do in their life. He always said, if we do anything with willpower and determination, success automatically comes to us. That is what I have always believed in till today.
After I entered college, I saw that civil engineers were not being treated with respect, a lot of people chose civil engineering either because they couldn’t get into IT, ECE or they chose it because they wanted to study something in a reputable institution.
Later I realized that it is because people don’t respect civil engineers, they were made fun of by the other streams that they are good for nothing and that we don’t have to study hard or that whatever we study is not worth studying and so on. Even my friends from other branches were no exception.
That day I decided that I am going to do something in my life which should make a difference and take a step closer towards stopping this thinking. This is what drives me to do what I do and take a step towards creating that lost respect for civil engineers.
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you sought to establish your success story?
When you don’t find opportunities, create one for yourself and power through till you find whatever you are looking for and always create a balance between your personal and professional life.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My biggest source of motivation in my daily life is looking forward to the day when civil engineering gets its long-lost respect back and families don’t discourage their kids from choosing this profession.
My father has always given me the strength to face my problems head-on and taught me that hard work and perseverance pays off. He keeps me motivated by saying that if we want something to happen with all our might, everything in the universe will conspire to help us achieve it. I believe that gives me the motivation to push myself harder every day.
Apart from that, my co-founder and my best friend Harshith has always been my support and motivation to aim higher things in life. His can do attitude inspires me to think differently and approach any problem with a different perspective when something doesn’t work out.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
According to me, no one is perfect and looking for perfection is not an option in this world. You take what you get and turn it into what you want is what I believe is my mantra for life. Some of the things which I would say helped me grow would be;
> Risk-taking ability and Accountability
> Being informed and taking on the problems head on
> Making tough decisions
> Questioning when something doesn’t make sense
> Learning from your mistakes
What are the three most important lessons you have learned in your life?
1) Everyone is entitled to their opinion
2) Never be afraid to speak your mind
3) Always remember that actions have consequences
Please share with us – what has worked well for you so far?
One thing I would say that helped me and my company grow is the ability to listen to our customers. We believe that customers are not interested in products but in getting their problems resolved.
The more we listen to them, the problems they face in their business, the more efficiently and effectively we can resolve them. We believe that we are capable of doing that and it is the only reason for our growth.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
According to me, curiosity to learn and grow is a quality any leader should possess. When one can do that, it helps them to be able to understand criticism, they can learn from their mistakes and make themselves into a leader they want to be. Apart from that, an optimistic approach and a can-do attitude at whatever life throws at you are great qualities to achieve success.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
There is no defined path to success for anyone, there are some things that work for one person but maybe don’t work for another. But when you keep at it, results start to show up sooner or later.
As Aristotle once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit”. So, what I believe is no one can tell you if you do this you will succeed in life, but with a can-do attitude and a little bit of perseverance, success will definitely make its way to you one way or another.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
Civil Engineering is one of the oldest professions in the world and the concepts of civil engineering enabled us to create marvels of the world. Admittedly it has not had waves of progressiveness for the past few decades but only the younger generation can change that. When you don’t do something because you think no one else could do it and you would also fail at it, well sorry to say it but that makes you an idiot.
Exploring your passion is the only way one can succeed in life. Don’t be afraid to choose your path and especially don’t be lazy to put in the work required to succeed. Things which come easy also have a way to leave easy. Create products, upskill yourself as much as you can and never stop learning.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
