Kajal Kapoor, Managing Partner, Delhi Gujarat Road Carrier
Kajal Kapoor was the only woman running for honours at the last edition of Mahindra MPower War Room V, and was about to make her final presentation at the business contest for next-gen trucking entrepreneurs. “Little nervous”, she smiled, as we got introduced, and added that she is extremely confident and positive. To her words, she made a stunning presentation on her business strategies and boldly addressed all questions raised by the jury members to clinch the second runner-up position.
A couple of months later, I approached her with the quintessential question – “Why trucking entrepreneurship?”. The question wasn’t anything new to her. She said: “I was born and brought up in the transport industry… I grew up watching my father grow step by step in the business, and hence my passion grew up inadvertently”. She is celebrating ten years exemplary business by her very own trucking company, Delhi Gujarat Road Carrier (DGRC), this year, and she takes endless pride in her feat.
“It feels great. DGRC is like a child to me, and it was my learning hub that taught me the pertinent. I have grown with the evolution of the company”, she said. Later in the conversation, I heard Ms. Kapoor talk on her initial hick-ups in being recognised by others as an able trucking entrepreneur, ups and downs all through her journey, and her determination to move further ahead. She had to go to some great lengths to script her success story just as she desired a decade back.
How hard was it to sustain a male-dominated industry, I asked. She replied: “There are barriers for women to make inroads into certain work spaces, but I don’t think that the transport industry is resistant to gender diversity these days. Especially after the technologisation of trucking industry on the lines of ERP system, cashless transactions, AMC contracts for vehicle maintenance, or online management, things have become easier for entrepreneurs to manage control. Now, I find many women working in this sector, even in our office”.
“But people won’t give you recognition that easily”, cautioned Ms. Kapoor. “It all depends on your work and aura… your knowledge and management styling, for others in your workspace to take you seriously. At the end of the day, you have to prove yourself by putting in hard work and dedication in whatever you do, together with a constant quest for innovation. And this applies not just for women, but men as well”, she added.
What is the source of your motivation? “My father” Ms. Kajal Kapoor responded instantly. “I owe everything to him…”. When I asked her father Mr. Ashok Dhingra, a partner at DGRC, and MD of Delhi Gujarat Fleet Carrier (DGFC), on her success, he said: “When she entered the business with just four trucks in 2004, people came up to me with an advice that trucking is not for women. They instead suggested something ‘light’ like dealerships or consultancy. But Kajal just smashed all those apprehensions with her talents. That’s when we asked her to found a new brand on her own, i.e., DGRC”.
“If you have a strong system and adequate resources, you will succeed in entrepreneurship, no matter who you are, man or woman”. Ms. Kapoor claims that the stigma associated with trucking is certainly gone these days. So, “I would definitely recommend women to take up transport entrepreneurship. There are endless opportunities for them in the transport and logistics chain. Since women are predominantly process-oriented in general, they are perfectly suited in this space”, she averred.