Focus on Service

It is a powerful combination to have operations fully integrated in-house and the ability to identify finance and execute development projects, believes SAHIL VORA. 

SILA was established in 2010 with the intent of bringing about a change in the real estate development industry. We quickly realised the massive opportunity in the services sector – there was a lack of quality manpower and there were few organised players. Our journey since, has been spent addressing this gap. By focusing on technology and innovation, we were able to create a niche and work with some of the biggest names in India across the commercial, industrial, residential and hospitality industries. Our three main service verticals of Facility Management, Interior Contracting, and Project Management and Advisory grew steadily to over 75 cities in the country, and in 2019, we ventured into the development of real estate projects.

We have invested in talent and technology to scale in a lean yet financially viable manner. Running a PAN-India business with a workforce across the country has been challenging, but we have been able to counter this with a targeted talent acquisition approach. For our senior positions, we make an active effort to hire from outside the industry to get a diverse strategic viewpoint, and have a robust background checking and compliance team 

in place. 

We built an in-house software, SILA Connect, that allows us to keep a check on internal systems such as compliance, verifications and billing, as well as track operational performance of all our sites. This proprietary tech stack has allowed us to cut costs and standardise operations across the board. We also rolled out a version that helps our customers maintain and anaylse data and generate reports. We continue to identify new areas in our business where we can invest in tech to make offices smarter, and consistently perform R&D to test out tech efficiency and implementation.

Following a decade delivering real estate service solutions, in 2019 we initiated our development vertical by breaking ground on two dynamic projects in the MMR – one in South Mumbai and one in Alibaug. With over 500,000 sq ft currently under development, we intend to scale this vertical sustainably. We believe in delivering what we have committed while we identify more opportunities in the development segment in the near future. 

We plan to scale the facility management vertical along with our Interior Contracting and Project Management and Advisory divisions. With an average contract renewal rate of 95 per cent, we plan to continue providing our solutions with a focus on service. We identify gaps and direct our efforts in delivering value-added solutions, overlaying operations and technology as customers’ needs continue to evolve. SILA also secured an investment from Private Equity Fund Norwest Venture Partners in 2019, which gives us an additional push to scale and not limit our service delivery. 

SILA plans to leverage its operations and development capabilities, and use the synergies of our two divisions to scale the real estate platform. This is a powerful combination, to have the operations fully integrated in-house and the ability to identify finance and execute development projects. We look forward to this next phase of growth for SILA, as we scale up while contributing to the Indian real estate industry in a manner that is innovative and future-ready.

Sahil Vora, Founder, SILA, moved back to India to pursue his passion for entrepreneurship after working at George Weiss Associates, a $3 billion hedge 

fund in New York. He, along with his younger brother Rushabh, started SILA to explore opportunities in the Indian Real Estate sector.