/ -- The dynamic personality that conjured more than a whopping 1,500 Cr from a small amount of 40K is Mr. Kulwinder Singh Kohli, the Non-Executive Chairman of the well-diversified, Frankfinn Group.
At the age of 31, when his peers were focusing on stabilizing in their 'job-roles', Mr. Kulwinder Singh Kohli, a trained criminal lawyer, became an entrepreneur. He launched his first company Frankfinn Medico Infoservices Pvt. Ltd. in 1993 with just 40,000 INR, borrowed from a close friend; thus laying down the foundation of a group that has grown multi-folds in the subsequent years.
Although his initial business venture was doing well, and even his law career was bringing him unprecedented fame, Mr. Kulwinder Singh Kohli wanted to diversify into a business, in education, in the field of glamour that had a potential to get a pan-India presence and subsequently reach the international markets.
The visionary in Mr. Kulwinder Singh Kohli lead him to explore the potential in Aviation industry, which was undergoing transformation owing to the liberalization policies of the government, and this was the start of his journey in the skies.
One of his innovative achievements was the seven-day training program for preparing students to successfully face airline Cabin Crew selection interviews. He engaged seasoned and highly qualified faculty, who were no less than 'Dronacharyas' in their respective subjects and obviously costed a huge amount to the company. Their cost to the company was much higher than the other faculty who were generally hired by other Air Hostess training institutes. However, Mr. Kulwinder Singh Kohli was fully aware that if he had to make his mark in the industry, he had to raise the benchmark in training and post-training services to a much higher level. He made Innovation, Quality and Honesty as the pillars of the company.
At that point all other Air Hostess institutes/academies (approximately 450 pan-India), were run by ex-airline professionals, who had 20-30 years of experience in the industry to back them up. All these academies had one year courses, wherein they were providing the 'not-really-required' technical details. The minimum duration of the course at that time was 6 months; in fact, no other similar course was running with any shorter duration. The cost of these courses, way back in 1995 was approximately a humongous 1.5 lacs and that too, with no 'real' benefits for the students.
Whereas, Mr. Kulwinder Singh Kohli, who was not even from the industry, with his clear business vision and entrepreneurship skill to his benefit, studied the courses being taught by the leading Air-hostess academies and also, in parallel, studied the interview pattern of the Domestic and International Airlines. This study revealed a huge gap in what was being taught vs what was asked at the time of interview. Using the findings from the study, he hand-crafted a curriculum, which spread across seven days. The course curriculum was so comprehensive that it covered A to Z of all that was required to successfully clear the Cabin Crew interviews of all major airlines, leaving nothing to chance. When Mr. Kulwinder Singh Kohli launched the course, everyone from the industry was speculating that the seven-day course will not succeed and the company will close out soon. However, the Quality and Innovation paid off and Frankfinn became India's Number One Air Hostess training institute, with the largest number of Frankfinn students selected in airlines. Thereafter, the company never looked back and went on to become the World's Number One Air hostess training institute.
Mr. Kulwinder Singh Kohli, when he first commenced the education business, he defined Seven Brand values in the perspective, Value for Money, Quality, Fun, Innovation, Challenges, Royal, and Rebellious.
These continue to guide the working of the company even now.
Today, Frankfinn Aviation is transforming lives of many thousands of aspirants for jobs of Air Hostesses, Flight Stewards and Ground Hostesses, Air Ticketing Executives in Airlines and Guest Relation Executives, Front Office Executives in Hotels, Travel Industry and Customer Service Industries, empowering them with world-class opportunities across India. Frankfinn is the only institute in India with an exclusive worldwide tie-up with ICM, an institute of repute in the UK, having tie-ups with various reputed Universities, Colleges and Institutes across the Globe. Moreover - Frankfinn has tied up with Air India for detailed Cabin Service familiarisation program, for its students. At the end of this training, Frankfinn students receive a co-branded certificate from Air India. Frankfinn is also an approved Training Partner of NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation).
As per Mr. Kulwinder Singh Kohli, the Quality Training & Excellent Placements Track Record have always been the hallmarks for Frankfinn. This has been recognised through many awards received by the company such as the 'Best Training Partner 2017 - 2018' from the Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council, Award for 'Best Air Hostess Training Institute' - eight times in a row and the award for the 'Best Higher Vocational Institute for Skill Development - 2018' for the third time in a row from ASSOCHAM. The company's placements' record has also been highlighted in the Limca Book of Records.
Furthermore, the company has diversified into the arena of Music, Security, Modelling and Acting and Corporate Training with success. K5 Security, Frankfinn Institute Of Modeling & Acting, CorpExcel are some of the well recognised names in the country today.
Mr. Kulwinder Singh Kohli believes that the guiding principle of Frankfinn has always been to innovate, not imitate. Even when he transformed the training from a seven-day course to one year program, he diversified the program to include the fields of Hospitality, Travel, and Customer Service. He introduced 'swimming' in the curriculum, which was an industry requirement but ignored by other similar academies. This is one of the main reasons why Frankfinn has become the industry leader it is today, leaving its competition far behind.
To talk about the company's future prospects let us refer to a quote from the living legend, Mr Kulwinder Singh Kohli, "Within the next five years, our vision is to become one of the top ten companies globally in the aviation and music industries. To achieve this, we are contemplating major expansions and diversifications. We plan to soon launch our own regional airline called 'Air Frankfinn'."
Source: Frankfinn Aviation Services Pvt. Ltd.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
