The Merry Mentor

ICE PEOPLE: Anupam Arun

Anupam Arun

A degree in psychology comes in handy for Anupam Arun to understand his employees better. A keen sports enthusiast, Arun encourages the 500, largely twentysomething employees at Ventura India's Pune facility to participate in outdoor activities.

"One can't be holed up in office 24 hours a day," says the country manager at Ventura India, a leading provider of customer management outsourcing services.

With a background in quality assurance, a certified trainer and an award-winning leader, Arun's background in offshore outsourcing and his track record in managing people made him an obvious choice to head the Leeds-based Ventura's £10 million Indian subsidiary.

He hopes the local contact centre will grow to become a 2,000-strong facility by early 2007, contributing up to a quarter of the company's revenues. "The growth will come as we start increasing the number of clients being serviced out of India," says Arun.

Keeping the age profile of his staff in mind, Arun would like to see his employees grow with the company and has tied up with some of Pune's leading educational institutions to provide training to his team members. "We constantly run programmes that instill the importance of professional courses in our employees," he says.

Facilities at the spanking new Pune site will eventually include a cyber café, a restaurant and a games room. Another interesting innovation: circular seating to encourage team-building. "I wanted the employees to feel comfortable at work," adds the self-confessed workaholic who travels extensively.

Clearly, this trainer takes fun in the workplace very seriously.