Published on Economics Times
Date: 25/03/2011 Page 19
By Radhika P Nair
A playground equipment maker makes safety and quality its USP
In 2006, serial entrepreneur Roben Dass was a worried man. He used to enjoy taking his then six year old son to the neighbourhood park, but the play structures in the park were in a bad shape and Dass was constantly concerned about his son’s safety. It was out of this worry that he desided to start Koochie Play systems.
Dass was running six other successful businesses at the time. He spent two years researching the playground equipment market in the country trying out various designs and doing pilot projects. “More and more young parents are traveling abroad and there is an increasing awareness about safety. They are demanding better products,” says Dass. He realized there was an opportunity for an organized player in this highly fragmented segment. Which Dass pegs at over $100 million. In 2008, he took the greatest risk of his life: sold off his other businesses to concentrate solely on Koochie.
The company focuses on playground requirements of residential apartments, schools, resorts and clubs. The company’s design team is located in Chennai and a plant in south Korea does the manufacturing. Koochie has its own team for doing the installation work at the client location and for the future servicing of the structures.
The company today has revenues of $1million and is targeting revenues of $5million for FY 2011-12,But the going was not easy. “When we started, everyone said we are mad,” says Dass. Builders could not understand why they had to spend more on equipments for which there are no safety stipulations in India.
Koochie equipment is expensive when compared to most Indian suppliers. A swing set comes at Rs25,000 while a complete installation costs an average of Rs 5-10Lakh and larger orders could go up to Rs 45Lakhs. In contrast, equipment from the unorganized sector can be priced as low as Rs 5,000 for a swing set. Consumers too regard Koochie as a premium brand, particularly as more competitors offer lower prices.
“Their prices are quite high. Newer players are entering the market at competitive rates,”says Ranjan Karulkar, chief articulturistnof Hiranandani Group, who bought their first Koochie products in 2008. Despite the high costs, the group continues to buy these products for their high quality. “We have not had a maintenance problem so far with their products,” added Karulkar.
The company bagged its first commercial project in 2008 in Chennai. At an apartment complex built by Akshaya Builders. Since then, the company has worked with a number of major builders in the country.
Dass is also looking to establish a foothold in global markets for the brand, which is now sold in five other countries, including France and Australia. To enter the European market, he decided to build a presence in France first, which has one of the most stringent safety requirements for playground equipment. It took Dass four attempts to get the EN1176 certificate, France’s safety certification for playground equipment.
Dass is aiming to make Koochie a $20 million company in the next three years. The company is aggressively expanding and plans to enter the lucrative American market soon.