Amit Ramani is the Founder and CEO of Awfis, a company providing an ecosystem of workspaces for Small and Medium Enterprises. In our Great People Manager Study 2021, he was recognized as one of the Top 100 Great People Managers in India.

In this article, let us learn more about his journey which has helped him grow and become a Great People Manager who is looked up to by his employees due to his people management skills.

Beginning of the Journey – Education and Early Career

Amit Ramani completed his Bachelor’s in Architecture from the School of Planning and Agriculture in New Delhi. As he comes from a family of engineers, opting for Architecture was a major change in his family. After that, he completed his Master’s in Architecture from Kansas State University, followed by Master of Science in Real Estate and Workplace Strategy from Cornell University.

After completing his education, he joined HOK, an architecture-engineering firm. His work involved advising companies about reducing their carbon footprint and alternate work environments.

Becoming an Entrepreneur

In January 2005, he joined Nelson, another architecture and interior design firm as their Senior Vice-President. He helped grow the company from a 50-person company to a 600 people company while also becoming one of the top 5 companies in interior design at that time.

In 2008, he brought Nelson to India and he became the Founder and Managing Director of Nelson India, thus starting his entrepreneurial journey.

Soon after, he started a new venture in the area of facility management called Petra. Even today, both Petra and Nelson India are operating under his leadership.

The Rise of Awfis

When on a tour in the USA in 2014, he was introduced to the concept of co-working. He felt that this concept had huge potential in India. He understood that flexibility is required in the unpredictable business world, especially for Small and Medium Enterprises. His background in real estate and design helped him launch Awfis to solve the problem of office spaces faced by Small and Medium Enterprises in India.

His failures during the initial stages of Awfis gave him many insights into what corrective actions are needed to be taken to scale the company. Today, the company has more than 130 centres in 14 cities with more than 77,000 seats occupied by 1,500+ companies.

Amit Ramani’s People Management Practices

Amit Ramani is driven by solving real-world problems and making a difference in the SME space.  However, he values human connection more than your everyday business numbers at metrics.

He believes that it is his people that drive the organization forward and works hard to create a culture of trust and innovation to empower the Awfis team. A lot of his people management practices are loved by all his employees. One of his unique people management practices include ensuring that people who are reporting directly to him work on creating their own personal brand. His team says he focuses on discovering the core strengths of all team members and helps them to reach their true potential in those areas.

If you ever need proof of how much people enjoy working under his leadership, simply take a look at the employee testimonial section on the Awfis website. Also, Awfis is certified as a Great Place to Work, which is a very prestigious achievement for companies around the world. In order to get this certification, a minimum of 70% of the employee respondents need to rate their organization as a Great Place to Work. This is further proof of how his people management skills have a positive effect on his employees.

Because of his efforts in creating an empowered workforce at Awfis, Amit Ramani truly deserves to be one of our Top 100 Great People Managers. We hope he continues to spread his people management knowledge amongst his employees so that more people can become Great People Managers during their careers.