Interviews

Maple Consulting & Services helping startups & corporate manage their Human Capital

An organisation cannot build a good team of working professionals without good Human Resources Management. The key functions of the Human Resources Management (HRM) team include recruiting people, training them, performance appraisals, motivating employees as well as workplace communication, workplace safety, and much more.
HRM is a very important discipline as it manages the most important asset of an organization – The People.
A start-up can survive without HRM but as company will start to grow they will need people with specialized skills to manage people. HRM manages the complete lifecycle of an employee of company which goes this way: Recruitment-Selection-Training-Performance Management-Compensation & Benefits-Career Development-Exit and much more.
HRM can essentially be categorized in three levels: Administrative activities, Operational Activities and Strategic Activities. To Manage an organization effectively, you need good HR people and this is where Maple Consulting & Services comes in the picture.
They manage the entire gamut of human capital services. We specialize in talent management, organizational alignment, HR advanced analytics, aspirational modeling, professional mentoring and career consulting.
Let See, How Maple consulting & Services helps large enterprise organization achieve their results.
1. What is the Name of Your Venture? Any specific reason for this name?
Maple Consulting & Services takes inspiration from the lovely long lasting Maple tree. Just as the tree’s lifespan ranges from 100-300 years, we too hope to build a firm that is long-standing and of repute. Its warm foliage colors evoke happiness, optimism and energy in our organization.

2. Who is your target Audience/clients?
Global MNC and start ups
3. Where is your venture based (city, state, country) & What are your geographical target areas?
Headquartered in Mumbai, our competent team helps recruit, manage and develop human talent for a wide range of companies across the country and the globe.
4. What problems does your venture resolve? What are your products or services?
Consulting and strategy are our core areas. The misalignment of strategy with the right talent is one of the leading causes of organizational failures. We’ve developed an approach that helps you find the right talent that carries out pragmatic strategies effectively in line with organizational goals.
We manage the entire gamut of human capital services. We specialize in talent management, organizational alignment, HR advanced analytics, aspirational modeling, professional mentoring and career consulting.
5. Share the idea or story behind the venture. How did it came to an existence? What motivated you to start your own venture?
I have been involved in sports since an early age and displayed tremendous leadership. These were further honed as I grew up the corporate ladder. I was often praised for my advisory and leadership skills and had almost zero attrition in my teams in every organizations I was associated with. This firmed my belief in my leadership and solutioning capabilities which required human intervention thus having a business impact. Maple C&S was born out of a passion for making a difference in the way HR is perceived.
6. Who are your biggest competitors and how do you differentiate yourself from them?
The HR industry is still nascent in India and more recruitment oriented than anything else. While staffing is an important function, consulting is where we identified a gap in the market. The industry is big enough and has place for everyone hence we don’t think on those lines.
7. How did you identify your co-founder? Tell us something about your co-founder/s
Maple C&S is run by a skilled husband and wife team: Anil & Smita Raikundlia. With more than 30 years of combined expertise in HR management, they provide innovative and customized HR solutions for corporates.
8. How did you hired your first team members? What skills Do you want in your employees/team?
It was difficult trying to identify and form the right team in our early days as we had a fixed idea on what we wanted to achieve and we really needed a team that believed in our vision. Skills that we identified were willingness to learn, a drive to succeed, an understanding of organizational culture and the talent and tool knowledge to source the right candidates.
9. What expansion plans are you looking for the next 2 years, next 5 years?
We would like to add verticals such as workforce management/ HR Applications in the next two years and definitely be a name to reckon with in the field of consulting.
10. Where do you want to see yourself in next 10 years?
We’d want to be the first choice as a consulting partner, establish long term trust based professional relationships with all our clients and offer our expert guidance and support at every step to manage their HR challenges.
11. What are your goals over the next 1, 3, 6 and 12 months?
We firmly believe that analytics, intuition and experience should go hand in hand to deliver the best results required for the Human Resources business. We are constantly bettering ourselves towards our goal with every project. In the next 3 months we wish to complete our teams expansion, technically build infrastructure and by 12 months successfully complete our ongoing consulting assignments with class
12. Have you raised any funding? Or have any plans for the funding?
Maple C&S is self-funded. Maybe after some years not at this point of time.
13. What were the problems you faced during the starting days and how did you resolve them?
Our biggest challenge initially was changing the way senior management conceptualizes the value of ‘Human Resource’ in the corporate world. We strongly believe the perception of HR needs to be re-modeled from just being a supporting function to a strategic business partner within the organization. We strive continuously to build a true strategic consulting experience where ‘execution is the most crucial part of the solution’.
14. What was the most challenging part of your journey till now? How did you overcome those challenges?
It has been an uphill task to convince senior management that HR at Maple C&S is not about acquiring and managing personnel, but that we are business consultants and truly function as an advisor, aiming to create and deliver the value aligned with the organization’s business objectives thru having impacting the facet of HR
15. Are you married, single or in a relationship?
Married with family.
16. What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
Have been a Badminton player and I still enjoy the sport. My daughter is an emerging player at the school level and I spend a lot of time playing with her.
17. What’s your favorite food & holiday destination?
A total foodie, I love all kinds of food. Europe is a wonderful destination with various things to do
18. Whom do you consider your idol or biggest motivator?
Pete Sampras for his energy and always on the go attitude. He is also extremely sensitive, perceptive and has great ability to put thoughts into action. I admire him for his innate authority, tactful but straight-forward attitude. “When in trouble he follows it up with an Ace”
19. What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
Having been on both sides of the fence, I can relate to a job position and being an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship requires risk taking capabilities and compromises at a personal level to achieve your goals with continuous financials fluctuations one has to cope up with.
20. If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
I’m happy with my life choices.
21. How has being an entrepreneur affected your family & Social life?
One of the main drawbacks of being your own boss and heading your own venture is that there is a blurred distinction between work time and personal time. But over the years, I have realized that overtime kills productivity and fresh ideas. On introspection, quality time spent with family and friends rejuvenates the mind and makes for a happier more creative leader.
22. Anything, you would like to say to our readers or upcoming entrepreneurs?
‘Time is never constant’ is the mantra I live my life by. Moving towards the future is the only way to go.
23. Tell us something about your education & family background.
I hold a PGDBM in Business Management from Welinkar Institute of Management.
24. What is your USP which makes it unique & different from other start-ups in similar domains
For most, HR equals to Recruitment and that remains the main area of focus. For Maple C&S, recruitment is just a small fraction of what we do. Our objective is to help organizations make better people decisions, methodically increase risk-taking capability of leaders and ensure that leadership teams have diverse strengths essential for sharpening their competitive edge.
Our USP is our unique and in-depth understanding of human resources, our speed of execution, quick turnaround time, innovative operative methods and the drive to step outside pre-defined traditional roles.
We take immense pride in being professional, consistent and responsive to specific needs and thereby ensure meeting long term needs for all our clients.
25. What do you think is the biggest threat to the success of small businesses & Start-ups today?
Human Capital
26. Do you consider yourself successful and by what means do you measure success?
Success for me is a combination of quality work and quality time spent with family. A healthy work-life balance is essential for success.
27. Please share complete name, address, phone number, email id & website of Your Business & Contact Person
Maple Consultancy & Services
MD – Anil Raikundlia
9th floor, Corporate Park II, Near Swastik Chambers, VN Purav Marg, Chembur East
Mumbai, India
098331 39026
www.maplecs.com
[email protected]

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