In the cockpit

Not fractional success, this

He is young, dynamic and runs India's first fractional ownership company. Manav Singh, managing director of Club One Air, sits down for an exclusive tête-à-tête at his family residence in Mumbai. By Chetan Kapoor

Presumably an early riser, Manav Singh meets me at the appointed hour one early morning at his colonial-looking family residence. He has a busy schedule ahead of him. "I have a few meetings lined up before my flight back to Delhi (where he stays) tonight," he says making himself comfortable on the 'hot seat'.

He begins by reminiscing about his initial years. "I had a very privileged childhood in Delhi and was born with a 'golden' spoon in my mouth. I remember a lot of hunting trips with my father. Then our fortunes changed because of a family feud and we had a very rough time financially," he says.

They say that loss builds character and his high-spirited attitude seems to have its origins from here. He continues, "I take that period as a blessing because if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have valued money or work and would not have had the principles that were inculcated in me during that difficult period."

A quest for adventure

Singh left home at an early age of eleven and attended the Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, probably one of the oldest public schools in Asia. He is also an alumnus of the Menlo College in California where he majored in finance and minored in marketing, after which he decided to come back to India.

So how does a person with a finance and marketing background start his own airline company? "I was dealing with certain aviation products and one thing led to another. Soon I discovered my passion for aviation and entered this industry in 1997," he reveals.

He believes that determination can get you anywhere. "If you are determined to do a task and are committed and passionate about it, there is very little chance that you will not succeed," he says. With Club One Air's success and interesting plans for future in the pipeline, Singh couldn't have asked for more. However, this is only the beginning for him, he says. "I'm only 33 and frankly don't think that my career has taken off yet. I believe that I still have to make my big moves."

Learning is a never-ending process. According to Singh, "Club One Air has taught me a lot - aviation is a very complicated business. It is a very precise business not necessarily run by the most precise people. It is a service that can not compromise on reliability, safety or hospitality. The biggest challenge is to keep everybody motivated and get the team on the same wavelength as you are. It is the first company that I set up and had a wholesome all-round experience with administration, HR, marketing, finance, learning about aircraft, etc."

Free-wheeling

On the personal front his aim is to help people, especially his friends and family. "I might be very confused with what I want to do with my life but I know one thing for sure. When I retire, I want to ensure that I have made a big, positive influence - directly or indirectly - in the lives of people." Quantifying his agenda, he says, "My target is to influence or improve quality of life of at least 1,00,000 families."

Talking about the people who have influenced him, he reveals that reading biographies and inspirational books is what he enjoys the most. Stories about great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jack Welch and Sir Richard Branson move him. So who is his role model? Dhirubhai Ambani, of course. Singh says, "He was a completely self-made man. The heights that he managed to reach in his lifetime is something that I don't think anybody in the world has done. He started numerous industries and excelled in each one of them. He was just a master in handling relationships, a visionary and an extremely hard-working man."

He doesn't indulge himself in lazing around, mostly because he doesn't have much free time. "Rather, I don't like any free time. If I have free time, I think that I'm doing something wrong," he confesses. "But if I can get off for a few hours, I like to play golf or polo. And when I'm in town, I try to spend as much time as I can with my three-and-half year old daughter," he adds with a smile.

Singh also loves adventure, which is evident from his love for scuba diving. The next thing on his list however is to learn how to fly and even para-jump - "I run an airline company but don't know how to fly! I want to do some para-jumping by taking an aircraft 20,000 feet up in the air and jumping off," he says. As exotic as that may sound, Singh also loves to cook and even has a road-style dhaba at his house in Delhi. Like a true high-flying Punjabi!