Laying the foundation of a Better world
Armed with a rich experience of 3 decades, the CMD of Alliance Group, Mr. Namburu has been laying strong foundations of trust by promoting high levels of ethics and integrity in business practices and ensuring unparalleled service to the clients. Besides being an accomplished entrepreneur, he is also the author of the popular book ‘Moguls of Real Estate’
“Both our organisation and our family are involved in many CSR activities and one that we are emotionally attached to is the plantation drive involving plantation of 2 lakh trees in Chennai city”
With a rich global experience of around 10 years as the CEO of Magma Consulting Inc., based in Pleasanton, California, USA, Mr. Namburu spent a significant amount of time helping clients improve their bottom lines through the adaptation of emerging technologies. Despite tasting immense success overseas, he always longed to return to his homeland and ultimately returned to India for good. He was interested in developing software parks, however, destiny had some other plans for him in store and he ended-up joining hands with his childhood friend Mr. Suneel Bommireddy to establish Alliance Group. They started the very first project in Bangalore titled ‘10 Downing’, which did exceedingly well and derived significant advantage of the real estate boom.
Identifying “a serious vacuum of large scale professionally run real estate developers in Chennai”, he “decided to focus on Chennai and work towards becoming number one real estate developer in the city in 10 years.” He started developing large scale projects and owing to his dedication and commitment, he achieved great success. Today, he declares with pride, “In 10 years that goal to become the largest and number one developer in Chennai has become a reality.” Talking about his expansion plans, he says, “Now we also operate in Hyderabad real estate development space and are aspiring to become the number 1 in Hyderabad market.”
Turning Adversity into Advantage
It is a widely accepted fact that one of the most important qualities of a leader is resilience. In fact the true grit of a leader is not how he or she performs during the good times but rather how the person displays emotional strength and professionalism during the most trying times. Despite having hit rough weather a number of times, Mr. Namburu never gave up and emerged stronger than before. Throwing light on some of the specific challenges he faced, he elaborates, “Housing bubble and recession in 2008, Demonetisation, GST roll out,
December 2015 floods and introduction of RERA Act were the challenges we have faced like every real estate developer. However, the difference is that we emerged unscathed each of these times while several developers never recovered from those shocks and many developers went bankrupt. He further adds, “Our attitude of ‘Identifying opportunities in adversity’ is one of the secrets of our organisation’s success.”
Advocating Reforms for a Brighter Future
An ardent advocate of some of the reforms which should be brought about in the real estate sector, Mr. Namburu asserts, “We strongly feel that Real estate industry should be given an ‘Industry status’. It is an irony that whenever the economy is down, the government first focuses on stimulating housing growth, as they believe housing industry alone has the capacity to spur growth in 150 other industries and provides employment to crores of people – yet real estate industry does not have an ‘Industry status’.”
He is also concerned about the fact that “Real estate developers depend completely on funding from NBFCs at high rate of interest.” In his opinion, “Banks must fund real estate companies which will give access to funds at reasonable rates for the industry to expand.”
He further adds, “In affordable housing industry while the buyers whose monthly gross salary is under Rs.75,000 are excited to buy a home and are ready to pay for the monthly EMI – yet most of them do not have the 10% down payment (approximately Rs.2 to 4 lakhs) required to pay for buying the home and avail a home loan for the remaining 90%. The government is giving up to Rs.2.6 lakhs as subsidy from Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. If only this amount is given to customers at the time of paying advance to enter into agreement, the sales in affordable housing sector which is the primary growth engine for the country today can be revived and the growth of economy can be triggered.”
Cherishing Triumphs
For his outstanding contribution to the real estate sector, Mr. Namburu has received numerous awards with the notable one being Economic Times Ace Tech award for ‘Leaders of Indian Infrastructure & Construction’. Owing his success to a great support system, Mr. Namburu delineates, “I’m blessed with a family which stands behind me like a rock of Gibraltar. My wife takes care of every single matter at home, so I can completely stay focused on my work. My parents have always encouraged me – each time I had a fall, they only used words of encouragement.” He further adds, “My partner Suneel’s family is my extended family. He is a brother to me and inspires me to excel all the time.”
Giving Back to Society
Giving back to society is one of the most important and valuable ways in which a leader can contribute towards building the nation. Bent on making a positive difference to the world, Mr. Namburu is involved in multiple pro-social initiatives. He vehemently asserts, “Both our organisation and our family are involved in many CSR activities and one that we are emotionally attached to is the plantation drive involving plantation of 2 lakh trees in Chennai city. On 12th December 2016, cyclone Varda caused heavy damage in Chennai city – damaging everything that came in its path. Our city has lost over 4 lakh trees. As an organisation we have taken it upon us to plant 1 lakh trees and distribute another 1 lakh trees to homes across Chennai and encourage them to plant and care for those trees.”
He adds, “Figuring out that not everyone will plant a tree and take care of it for an year or two unless it gives benefit to them, we have distributed 1 lakh Mango and Sapota trees, which will not only motivate the people to plant and look after them, but will also provide the much required green cover to the city as well as encourage the birds which thrive on such plants to nest in our city.”
Marching Towards a Sustainable tomorrow
Mr. Namburu is deeply committed to building a sustainable future. He asserts, “As an organisation we wanted to diversify into a space which is close to our heart. We have always believed that we need to manage our planet better and leave our planet in a liveable shape for the future generations. And hence we chose to address pollution and CO2 emissions and chose to be in the battery minerals space which is contributing towards reducing dependency on burning fossil fuels.”
He further elaborates, “We have acquired one Lithium mine in Mali, in Western Africa and are working on the project to produce Lithium for Lithium Ion batteries, which are replacing the fossil fuels. We have also acquired a Graphite permit in Madagascar in Africa to be able to mine and process flaky graphite required for producing anodes for Lithium ion batteries. Usage of Lithium ion batteries has been mastered over the last few years and many car makers are coming with electric models to reduce fossil fuel usage. This space has been pioneered and lead by Mr. Elon Musk of Tesla Motors and we wanted to contribute with our might to this space by being a significant miner for battery minerals across the globe.”
Mr. Namburu’s distinguished contribution towards the development of society, economy and environment is commendable. No wonder he is an inspiration for umpteen aspiring entrepreneurs and others who intend to follow his lead. His message to them is “The world belongs to the learners. The more you know the more you can achieve. Read a lot and further your knowledge.” Emphasising upon the importance of taking calculated risks, he asserts, “A ship is safe in a harbour, but that is not what it is built for. You must learn to take calculated risks. Only those who take risks (calculated ones) walk ahead of the crowd.”
