Sameer Deodhar- Owner, ‘LaundroMINT’
Sameer Deodhar, an Electrical Engineer, instilled entrepreneurial skills during the time he took the command of his 25 year old family business – ‘Industrial Electric Contracting Company’, in 2005. He learnt how to elevate his business skills during this course of time, and ventured into the 6th largest service sector in India- laundry industry, on foreseeing a great potential in this sector, and established ‘Sameer Laundromats LLP’ in 2013, catering to 450 students in Pune as their first project. Soon, after the commencement of the company, he initiated his flagship Laundromat outlet in Pune, catering to about 20,000 unique customers till date.
Climbing the ladder of success, he soon launched his own brand ‘LaundroMINT‘ in January 2018, under which he initiated offering franchise opportunities and guidance to budding entrepreneurs. Today, they stand here with 1 ‘LaundroMINT’ flagship outlet and 4 franchise outlets in Pune catering to about 30,000 unique customers. They also own and operate campus Laundromats catering to more than 3000 students in various Universities, colleges and private hostels.
Asserting the idea behind establishing Laundromats, Sameer says, “Laundromats will revolutionize the way laundry is done in India- a diverse country, where most of the household chores are either done manually or partly by machines”.
Laundromats are established with a vision to eradicate the tedious tasks of hiring maids and maintaining washing machines, by imparting hygienic, affordable and fast laundry solutions.
He is inspired by the revolution brought by ‘Steve Jobs’ in computing, telephone and music industry with the creation of ‘Apple’, which keeps him scaling towards excellence.
Recalling his struggles, Sameer shares, “I have just completed my Engineering and was about to leave for the United States for my post-graduation, when my father, Shri. Shirish Deodhar passed away all of a sudden; being an only child I decided to stay back and join our business”.
He joined his office at the tender age of 21, with absolutely no experience and practical knowledge, thereby facing 2 tough years in business as a lot of his projects got stuck. But he admits, “I always faced all difficulties with patience and a solution-finding approach. And finally, we successfully completed all the projects to the utmost satisfaction of customers”.
And the projects got regulated soon, and the successful journey to the path of growth commenced again. He credits his team members for company’s growth and expansion, most of who are with them for more than 10 years. The company soon achieved ISO 9001:2000 in the year 2008.
And the winning streak continued for the company…
“We started building-automation division in 2009, did a construction project as a developer in 2011, incepted the Laundromat Business in 2013, and are evolving every year”, iterates Sameer Deodhar with pride.
Taking untrodden paths in his business growth, Sameer shares that he immensely believes in taking calculated risks. He shares that a strong organizational foundation and culture ensures long term and steady growth.
“We might walk a little slower, but will not walk back. Sustainable growth is our key to success”, he reveals.
Witnessing the gaps in laundry industry, he found extensive potential in this market segment and realizing an urge to bridge this gap, Sameer went ahead with his venture that’s a complete laundry solution for people of all ages and strata- students, bachelors, working couples, families as well as senior citizens.
Realizing the laundry troubles faced by students in hostels, “We set up Laundromats within hostel premises under ‘LaundroMINT’ and provide promising laundry solutions without any investment to the institute”. He firmly supports their venture by commenting, “This facility also reduces water & electrical wastage, helping students focus on their studies, making their parents relieved and providing institutes with an additional on-campus facility, giving them an edge above the competitors”.
Sameer Deodhar’s Philosophical aspects
He firmly believes in the philosophy of finding solutions to problems.
- He quotes, “I am not a problem finder. I am a solution seeker”.
- “Whatever the problem may be, Solutions will come from me”.
- “I don’t shy away from asking someone with higher intelligence if I don’t have knowledge about a particular task. I am a student for life”.
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Awards
- During 6 remarkable years ‘LaundroMINT’ is featured as one of the very successful business models in the Magazine ‘Yashaswi Udyojak’ in the ‘January 2019 issue’ – a magazine that is run by ‘deAsra Foundation’ which helps in creating entrepreneurs.
They have won the “Best Hostel Laundromats in South India” award at India Business Awards 2019, held recently in Bangalore.
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