One thing, however, is clear. He is passionate about what he does. And, now he is on a mission to create an institution out of a proprietary enterprise that he had founded way back in 1992. Hailing from a rural background, Aruldass had his early education in a government school at Chettupattu Parish in Tiruvannamalai district. A diploma holder from Bakthavachalam Polytechnic and Engineering College in Kanchipuram, he was fond of teaching and worked as a faculty member at St Joseph’s Technical Institute in Chennai. His career path criss-crossed an array of fields such as teaching, electrical engineering, entrepreneurship and the like. His entrepreneurial instinct propelled him to set up a proprietary firm in 1992 to provide project consultancy for a host of companies. Essentially, it was playing a key role in designing and implementing HT, MV and LT installations for multi-sector industries, including retail, quick service restaurant MNC chains. As this was going along, Aruldass made a foray into a totally unexpected field.
UNLIKELY FORAY
Noodle King, a part of the Oriental Fast Food chain, was established by Antoine William Bakhache with the concept of dine-in, take away and delivery of Chinese cuisine. He proved to be an expert in setting up food chains such as Pizza Corner. In 2001, Noodle King was taken over by Aruldass, a first-generation technocrat entrepreneur. He brought the first outlet to Nungambakkam in Chennai. Soon enough, he set up many outlets across the city. His vision was to provide tasty, healthy and quality food at an affordable price.
The Noodle King menu was based on Thai food and offered noodles in a jiffy. Later, the ‘takeaway business’ transitioned into a full-fledged restaurant due to customer preferences and demand. Noodle King expanded its footprint in southern markets, including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Calicut, Cochin and Coimbatore with cost-effective pricing, standardised products, hygienic and taste completely adapted to the Indian palate. Aruldass had plans to start outlets in the Middle East and South Africa but, in 2010, he had to exit Noodle King due to problems with the venture capital firm. Funding issues ultimately forced him to call it quits. That had not deterred the entrepreneur in him.
Fortunately, Aruldass had already developed a vision for the proprietary firm which he had founded in the early ‘90s. Simply put, he was pining to provide customised and unique services on par with global standards. He focusses on consultancy and contract services in electrical engineering, design and data centre infrastructure. He converted his proprietary firm into a private limited company. Today, EAFS (EA Facilities and Services) has associations with some illustrious names such as Alstom, GE, Valeo, MRF, SIFY, Wipro, ICMR Egmore, CDoT, Tambaram TB Hospital and the like. EAFS has travelled quite a distance since 1992, when it was founded.
CORE FOCUS
It specialises in areas such as integrated command and control centres, network solutions, sub-station installation, energy conservation and the like. Broadly, it’s services fall into five categories – data centre infrastructure, civil and interior projects, electrical turnkey projects, panel assembling and IT & telecom projects. Aruldass set up a control relay panel assembling unit at Thiruverkadu in Chennai as a GE global vendor during the pandemic times so as to retain his employees. This facility has been extended to cover other business requirements.
Aruldass is convinced that the EA Facilities is operating in a Rs 1,000 – crore market space. At the moment, EAFS has a turnover of little over Rs 25 crore and expects to scale the Rs 100 crore mark in three years. He is acutely aware that business is a marathon, and institution building is an important constituent of the goal. Not surprisingly, he has chosen to lay focus on employee-centred welfare and development measures such as skilling, protection, etc. Growth with a reasonable margin appears to be his business outlook. Well, Aruldass is out to create a fresh little empire of his own – not in a fast-paced style but in an unhurried way.
