CEO Insights India

Kamalini Paul, Managing Director, Hotel De Sovrani started her entrepreneurial journey six years back with no experience in the Hospitality industry. She was bestowed with the responsibility of carrying forward her family venture at a very young age and ever since then she did not hark back to her past. The journey has been difficult but amidst the challenges, she has been able to make positive impacts on her guests, team members and bring innovative changes to the industry. She believes the one mantra to success is hard work. With such a strong ideology in life, Kamalini has been able to position De Sovrani as a prominent star category business hotel in Kolkata and was recently awarded the Best Upscale Hotel, Kolkata by Go-MMT. She follows a simple business motif of making West Bengal more accessible to the tourists from every corner of the global map. For her sharp and strong business acumen, she has been recognized by the Entrepreneur Magazine under Women to watch in 2020 and awarded New Gen Woman Entrepreneur in the Hospitality sector by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Apart from her business, she also engages herself in contributing to the welfare and development of less privileged communities. Below is an excerpt of the CEO Insights’ exclusive interview with Kamalini.

Tell us about your inspiration to start your venture in the hospitality segment and what drives you today as an industry leader?
I did not become an entrepreneur by choice, but it was more by chance. My father was a reputed realtor and it was his dream to build a four star hotel, which would cater to the common people's needs and it would serve a wide range of people. He did start his dream project but to our utmost dismay could not comp

ete it. Because of my father’s untimely demise, I had to take up the family business. I was only 18 back then and that is how I started my journey as an entrepreneur. And that was my inspiration. I did not think even twice before entering the Hospitality industry. I had no experience only the responsibility of not just my family but also the other 100 families that worked for our business. My perseverance to grow and to make hospitality more accessible to the common people is what is the motivation that keeps me going. And my goal right now is to make budget friendly, hygienic hotels more accessible to the people of India and make traveling in and around India easier.

How would you define Hotel De Sovrani and its position in the market?
Hotel De Sovrani has been able to make a benchmark in the Hospitality industry by creating a differential offering for a wide range of audiences. We cater to a large number of big and small companies based across India. Our rooms are well-appointed for long and short stays for business travelers and our food is kept very homely so that our guests feel like it's a home away from home. We have a pub that has become a meeting hub for local business professionals. We have a rooftop café that overlooks the entire city of Kolkata and has exciting offerings preferred by the young crowds. It has become one of the most popular hangout spots in Kolkata. We have our restaurant which caters to a wide range of people serving Indian specialities and Bengali delicacies. We are trying to expand our services and have new properties coming up in Darjeeling and Gangtok under the brand name of POZ Hotels, we are also growing our business in real estate with a project coming up in Shantiniketan.

How did you make it to reach this level of success and what is your success mantra?
I was only 18 when I joined the

Hospitalityindustry and had no experience. Every day was a challenge to survive. There were a lot of difficult times and I had no other choice than to break the barrier and move on with my mission to make this venture a success. Being a young woman, working with a group of elderly men was quite difficult in itself. But I followed the simple rule of never giving up. As I kept fighting the same battles every day, I eventually started getting better at it. So, my success mantra has always been perseverance and the zeal to keep doing things. I am only 26 and have been successfully leading Hotel De Sovrani for six years including the pandemic years. Hence, I believe change is the one constant thing in business and the only way I have learned to deal with it is through perseverance and hard work.

How would you describe your role in tackling the challenges posed by the pandemic?
COVID was a scary and unnerving period for all of us and we realized that we have to replan and restrategize our operations. We realigned our goals and our offerings keeping customers’ hygiene on the top priority. We came up with our sanitization service for the people at their doorsteps. In the last one and a half years, we sanitized and deep cleaned over 150 households. We have been able to reach out to the people in the need and support them. We have done food deliveries with our home cooked meals for the people who were quarantined.

Kamalini Paul, MD, Hotel De Sovrani
Kamalini has studied Business with a specialization in Marketing and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Science from Lancaster University. She has been leading De Sovrani for six years and making a benchmark in the hospitality sector.

Hobbies: Swimming
Favorite Cuisine: Continental
Favorite Book:'Brief Answers to the Big Questions', book by Stephen Hawking
Favourite Travel Destination:
Europe