Vidya Nambirajan, CEO, Paramount Auto Bay Services, and Founder, Nambirajan Foundation Automobile Academy, Hyderabad
Let me begin with a question. Whenever we see a car hesitant or going wrong in traffic in front of us, or when someone parks the car in an improper manner, how many of us have straightaway assumed that there’s a woman behind its wheels? When such a level of gender politics applies to simple opportunities like driving, how can someone venture into automotive service and technical training and sustain in a big way, I asked Ms. Vidya Nambirajan with awe. She is the CEO of Paramount Auto Bay Services, an ISO-certified multi-brand car workshop in Hyderabad, and founder of the Nambirajan Foundation Automobile Academy that trains graduates as automotive technicians for free.
A management graduate with over two decades of professional experience with different corporates as senior executive, she took up her father Mr. M.R. Nambirajan’s enterprise in 2001. Later, as a daughter’s tribute to her father’s passionate vision, she established a training institute on her own to coach under-privileged youth and women in the areas of automotive repair and service, also providing for their placements in authorized dealership garages in the region and abroad.
“I was not an engineer, so was a newbie in the business I took up. But I developed passion towards what I was consciously devoted to, learnt the craft by assisting technicians in my own garage and later embarking on training new-comers in a standardized pedagogy”, she recounts her entry into the business. “I honestly faced lots of ups and downs for quite some time. My existing technicians started quitting as they disliked reporting to a woman, while my customers were doubly suspicious and unwilling to confide. They were not sure whether I’m right doing repairs to their cars, and many questions used to pop up. But they helped me learn better and invest more on sophisticated tools and diagnosis systems, and achieved standardization in garage functionalities. I also took girls as mechanics, gave them professional training, and sustained”, she adds.
The automotive service has been blindly assumed a man’s turf in general parlance. How was their response to your emergence? Ms. Vidya replies: “Mine was called a ‘make-up’ garage initially, but people started realizing in due course that our service was way superior to many authorized service stations in our locality. Women technicians are performing better, are more process-oriented, and this field suits them the best. But the industry is not that inclusive to adopt women technicians. There is still high scope”, she observes.
Ms. Vidya has now joined hands with the Automotive Skill Development Corporation (ASDC) and the All India Automobile Workshop Association (AIAWA) for professional recognition and certification for technicians for their improved prospects in the industry. She has also tied up with the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) as only vocational training partner to train automotive technicians in India.
“There is nothing that women cannot do, it is more to do with the mindset of the society and individuals. Women are scrutinized way more than their male counterparts in any job they handle, and that’s where their perfection comes in. They learn from the floor, but deliver up above expectations”, she exclaims.