Fire proof growth

SPOTLIGHT

Firepro, an award-winning fire safety solutions provider, is expanding its footprints globally.

When N S Narendra, a young graduate in electronics and communication from a family of coffee planters started his business in business, he had no inkling that one day, he would win the ICICI-CNBC TBV18-CRISIL Emerging Company Award. That too, beating 35,000 other small and medium firms in the fray.

Narendra set up his own firm, Firepro Systems in 1993 to provide fire safety solutions. His initial investment was just Rs 10,000 with three employees. Recalls Narendra, "We were a small coffee planter and I always wanted to do something on my own."

His first order was to install a manual fire protection system at Davanagere Medical College, about 210 kms from Bangalore. The real breakthrough came in the form of an order from The Embassy Group, a real estate firm which placed an order for providing a complete fire alarm system for their project. 'We designed our own systems and implemented the project. This order also brought us a lot of credibility," says Narendra.

From a Rs 45 lakh turnover in the first year, Firepro has grown to be come a Rs 115 crore company with 520 employees. It is now aiming at a turnover of Rs 200 crore turnover this year and become a Rs 500 crore company by 2008-09.

Today, Firepro has emerged as the only company to provide the entire gamut of fire services - fire detection and alarm, fire protection, building automation, security, surveillance, consumer safety and two-way communication. It provides complete design, engineering, installation of fire alarms, security systems and service and maintenance.

With seven offices across the country, Firepro has captured 5 per cent of the Rs 3,000 crore organised market for fire protection and security systems.

Not surprisingly, Firepro's client list includes ITPL, Infosys, Wipro, Intel, Dell, Delhi Metro, Tata BP Solar, Astra Zeneca, Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad and G D Goenka World School.

Firepro is now exploring opportunities to grow in both domestic and overseas markets. Armed with $12 million funds raised recently from AIG, Firepro just entered the industrial segment and is presently executing projects at Maruti Udyog's new plant at Manesar in Haryana, TVS' new plant in Himachal Pradesh, Vedanta Aluminium, Dumex in Ludhiana, among others. It is also planning to foray into large infrastructure projects like power and oil, airports and defence. In power sector, it has already provided fire safety solutions to a 15-Mw captive power plant of Triveni Engineering in Lucknow.

Firepro has also entered into a strategic tie-up with the Indian subsidiary of US-based Honeywell Analytics, a part of the Honeywell Inc, for sourcing gas leak detection systems. The company is also aiming to enter the overseas market with an entry into the West Asian markets. It plans to open office in Dubai. It has also set up a component sourcing hub in Singapore.