“You are an architect of your own life”
This has been the foundation of farsighted entrepreneur Mr. Yogesh Wake. The successful powerhouse behind Group Surya PEB & Civil Works Pvt. Ltd., Group Surya (Heavy Engineering & Civil Construction Division), Shree Sai Fleet Services Pvt. Ltd, and Yashasvi Realtors LLP (Industrial Park Development), Mr. Yogesh lives by his honest business values. His 100% construction company is into turnkey projects in Pre-engineering buildings (PEB), Civil & Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing (MEP) works. He has successfully evolved into being a dependable name in his varied field. From industrial buildings, industrial parks, logistics parks, warehouses, factory sheds, metro works, office buildings, showrooms, various stations to aircraft hangars, school buildings, cold storage buildings, stadiums/auditoriums, airports, shipyards, and parking lots, he is the first name for creating these landmarks that stand the test of time.
With HQ in Pune and factory in Chakan, 2500 employees dream big with Mr. Yogesh. In the field of pre-engineered steel building, heavy engineering, civil works & construction, Group Surya has surged ahead since 2010 and has built more than two crore Sq.ft industrial constructions & buildings to date. With ISO 9001-2015 certification, Group Surya is now the one-stop-shop solution provider for high-quality services. Mr. Yogesh’s inspiring personal & professional journey is quite a read.
A native of Pohegaon, Kopargaon Taluka, and Mr. Yogesh was born on October 21, 1981, in a joint family consisting of his parents, brothers Avinash & Nitin, his father’s three brothers, and their families. His father was a supervisor at the Godavari Milk Organisation. While completing education at Sanjivani English Medium School in Kopargaon, his family moved to the milk organization’s colony due to his father’s promotion as the garage in-charge. After school, Mr. Yogesh joined a three year Mechanics Diploma at Sanjivani Engineering College, while helping his father in their transport business. He got an interest in its mechanical aspects. His father’s mantra helped him vastly in his growth– ‘You have to create your own future’. Mr. Yogesh’s business involvement & his father’s mantra became the foundation of his success. A keen sportsman in school & college, being the football team captain helped him make friends which later had an impact on his business. He later joined the Sir Visvesvaraya Engineering College in Sinnar, Nashik, where he too showed his calibre by becoming the Sports Secretary in 3rd Year and General Secretary in 4thYear. Mr. Yogesh feels his leadership & entrepreneurial expertise were sowed here. He scored 69% in Diploma & 62% in degree.
To strengthen his business decision, Mr. Yogesh made industrial & business visits to Nashik for better understandings. With Pune fast becoming an industrial hub, he shifted to Pune with friends in 2004. Despite his shaky financial situation, his family’s 100% support meant a lot. One of his uncle’s mentioned Chakan’s industrial hub and so Mr. Yogesh & his friends shifted to Akurdi which was close by. The same year, Mr. Yogesh joined an MBA course and for part-time job experience, he worked at Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd. as a materialist for three months. He realized defined jobs offer no scope for overall development. But his shining moment came in a meeting, where he suddenly had to make a presentation. An attending vendor, impressed with his calibre, asked Mr. Yogesh to join him. After thorough research, Mr. Yogesh joined Kala Genset in 2004. When he was handling the Quality Department, his guru Dr. Pravin Phutane accurately recognized Mr. Yogesh’s inherent qualities to succeed – honesty and work perfection. He made Mr. Yogesh the Materials Head. This was a year and a half inclusive learning experience. He even had a single plant procurement management under him. While working here from2004-10, his business dreams which were still with him only grew.
The business baby steps took place in 2007 with his family’s support. He added a small vehicles company to his existing family vehicles business. He purchased an Indigo car to be rented out to Hotel Le Meridian which was bought in partnership with one of his friend, Shree Sai Fleet Services Pvt. Ltd. took off and the very next year, a new Innova was rented off to the same hotel. The growing business quickly crossed five crores business. Mr. Yogesh then took over the management staff of a Pune-based American car company in 2009 and brought in his friend Farid Shaikh to professionally handle the company. He credits Mr Farid for handling the tedious business in a fantastic way. Despite early financial setbacks, Shree Sai Fleet Services Pvt. Ltd is now doing great work.
Mr.Yogesh left his job in 2010 to start his own business. He brought over Group Surya, a heavy engineering fabrication firm working for Thermax Fabrications, at a lesser price. He partnered with his ex-colleague, Dilip Chaudhary. Within three months, they realised that there was little profit margin in these vendor works. So Mr. Chaudhary handled this company, whilst Mr. Yogesh changed his direction. That’s when he laid his eyes on pre-fabrication buildings, a new business concept in Indian markets. In PEB, structures get assembled on site. After thorough research, Group Surya PEB &Civil Works Pvt. Ltd was born in 2011. Excellent production was their prime focus.
Mr. Yogesh realised the need to hire right workforce for his business and began the search. To take Group Surya PEB on new heights, Mr. Yogesh procured piece of land on rental. With things falling in place, big work started pouring in. The turnover jumped from 3.5 crores to 300 crores till date. This was only possible because of the hard work of his core team members – Dilip Chaudhary, Musharraf Shaikh, Vidya Ghusale, Raju Salunkhe, and Prashant Pokharkar who have been with him from day one. They handled everything in PEB under professional supervision. Mr. Yogesh’s insistence on maintaining a business good relationship gave him rich dividends in profit and references. With the PEB manufacturing plant in place, Mr. Yogesh then turned to civil & MEP projects in 2014. He began handling turnkey projects. Around 2016, Mr. Yogesh saw drop in procuring new work in Pune and so went to places like Gujarat, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Indore etc.
2014 saw his work with the MNCs begin big time when Group Surya PEB worked with Mahindra Logistic. Render India saw their(Mahindra Logistic group) work and decided to appoint Group Surya for their work. A thought came to consider independent work with architects and took the chance to acquaint them with himself & his work. Today, his name crops up as one of the city’s top five contractors. But Group Surya never worked with the mindset of just a contractor but from a 360-degree point of view.
When Chakan started rising as an industrial hub, many top businesses preferred leased lands over purchasing expensive MIDC plots. Mr. Yogesh got into industrial parks by starting Yashasvi Realtors. He worked with the acclaimed Companies, ESR, Malpani Group, Musaddilal Group, and Welspun Group & Magarpatta Group. He then hit the idea of building &leasing out such parks to big companies who approached him. Group Surya PEB handles the overall logistics from getting the land & constructing the structure to procuring the materials, handing over the structure, and handling their management.
Slowly and steadily s 2018 onwards, more projects started pouring in. The first largest work of 1.5 lakh Sq.ft warehouse was for Mahindra Logistics was completed. The group successfully managed everything for them, from land agreement to construction and bank loan. Group Surya has now invested in a new plant in Indapur of 27 acres for total in-house PEB manufacturing. His client list includes General Motors, Render, Bridgestone, Cummins, Hyundai, Mahindra, Mahindra Logistics, Manikchand, Lumax, John Deere, Elite, Exide, Hanwell India, Ashok Leyland, EMST, Henkell, Kirpekar, KTA, Lotus, Aerofine Polymers, Ford, Renault, JP Engineering, GKN Centre Metals, Hempell, Singhvu, Richs, CEAT, ESR, Sandvik, Kirloskar, ABB, Honeywell, Varroc, Potain, Manitowoc, Malpani Group, Endurance, Mahindra CIE, Tenneco, JBM, Valveworks USA, Minda, Vignahar Structure, Shivam Steels & Tubes, Huf, Sika, Elite, AT&F, DMW, Hema Driveline & Hydraulics, RSA Turbotech, Sany, Yashashree, Takshi Auto, Tuflex, McCoy, Onkar Group, Davi Engineering, Cogeme, Taikisha, JMC Projects (India) Limited, Pidilite, Southco, Arkindia, BG and Mangala Auto Engineering Group. His showroom clients include Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, and Ashok Leyland. His food processing & agro clients include Rich Graviss Product Pvt. Ltd, Shramik Milk & Food Processing, Rajhans Milk Dairy, Woodstock Helicopters Pvt. Ltd, Trimurti Corns Agro Food Pvt. Ltd, and Sahyadri Agro & Foods. Some ongoing projects include ESR Industrial Logistics Park in Chakan, Malpani Industrial Logistics Park in Chakan, Musaddilal Projects Ltd, Magarpatta Industrial Park Pvt. Ltd & Crane Process Flow Technologies Pvt. Ltd in Satara.
Mr. Yogesh is quick to give due credit to his family. His father manages their farms and his two younger brothers Avinash Wake & Nitin Wake look into all civil and PEB on site execution monitoring. He remembers his father’s advice of giving his family the same freedom as Mr. Yogesh himself has received. His father helped him realise the importance of maintaining good relationship with everyone and take everyone along with him. His love marriage to Pallavi can be called a match made in heaven. They met in 2003 while studying in Nashik. Married in 2007, they are parents to Siddhi (DOB 03/09/2008) and Ayush (DOB 19/06/2012). Mr. Yogesh is also vocal of Pallavi’s hand in his success. She handles all the home responsibilities leaving Mr. Yogesh to handle work.
Mr. Yogesh is quick to give due credit to his family. His father manages their farms and his two younger brothers Mr. Avinash Wake & Mr. Nitin Wake look into all civil and PEB on-site execution monitoring. He remembers his father’s advice of giving his family the same freedom as Mr. Yogesh himself has received. His father helped him realize the importance of maintaining a good relationship with everyone and taking everyone along with him. His love marriage to Pallavi can be called a match made in heaven. They met in 2003 while studying in Nashik. Married in 2007, and are now proud parents to Siddhi and Ayush. Mr. Yogesh is also vocal of Pallavi’s hand in his success. She handles all the home responsibilities leaving Mr. Yogesh to handle work. Mrs. Pallavi a qualified Doctor gave her husband’s dreams a priority. She handles the company’s accounts. His friends – Shirish Kulkarni, Santosh Sancheti, Sunil Sathe(MD-TJSB), Dilip Choudhary, Musharaf Shaikh, Vinod Hudale, Prakash Kharabi, Vijay Botre, Somnath Doundkar& Hemant Kshirsagar –have a role to play in his success. Dilip Chaudhary became his partner in one of the company and a plant head in another. Mr. Yogesh recognised their talent and brought them into his company.
His philosophy is simple – As you sow so shall you reap. He realised the importance of putting in funds for better returns and maintain high salaries. To sustain the business, keep overall trade connections, and get experience & future work, bringing in work is everything for him. Mr. Yogesh proudly states that almost 100% of his employees and even clients are still with him.
So what has worked in Mr. Yogesh’s favour ? It’s his hard work. Having learned almost everything in all departments in previous jobs, handling business became easy. He is quick to learn, understands ground reality & changes as per your needs, and will go the extra mile for both work & diligent people. Mr. Yogesh compartmentalised departments and systems. Once the system is in place, he feels things will move smoothly. For example, the in-house ERP system was later fully computerised for paperless & fast transactions. 90% work of Group Surya PEB is on ERP system, from purchase, production, construction to payments. In fact, the total ERP system is operated by a single touch from mobile. He is proud that the very system incorporated in 2011 is still working fine. This has helped in throwing out human manipulation
Mr. Yogesh’s entrepreneurial success is inspiring. He believes in setting sights on changing trends &situations and working accordingly but in a clear & ethical manner. He pushes himself to achieve his dreams. His resourceful leadership, beliefs in hard work’s success, and accepting outcomes are the very traits helping him achieve his goals without drastic effects. One of Mr. Yogesh’s early experiences is the importance of having the right people around and trusting them to handle the work. Mr. Yogesh does not believe in micro-managing. His ability to recognise talent, hiring& grooming them, and give the right authority can be seen here.
Mr. Yogesh’s credibility lies in giving employees the free professional platform to prove themselves for superior productivity. He firmly believes that once you trust your team, good work will happen automatically.
Mr. Yogesh contributes to making his employees’ dreams come true like buying them home, provide basic needs, and provide policies for their parents. Group Surya employees are provided medical camps and yearly health check-ups during Ganesh Chaturti. It got a break in 2020 due to the COVID situation. Giving genuine people another chance is his priority. Devotion, he feels, goes a long way. Transparency is Mr. Yogesh’s second nature which, in his views, means providing ethical service. The words greed or selfishness does not exist in his work dictionary. This is why he gives detailed & clear tenders/agreements with no hidden charges. The work is completed as promised on time. Work is all about customer satisfaction and completes solutions.
He is all for daring to dream big. He feels if you dare, things work out for you and success will be yours. Most, according to him, do not dare to think big or just keep planning. But he believes daring is critical. He has one simple business motto –the sky is the limit. Since he is open to new ideas and their work ability, his chances of success are good.
Mr. Yogesh’s contribution in the social work area is huge too. For his village temple, he has provided tiles and also the entire steel (NDRF Chakan), apart from donations. He made food arrangements for around 1000-1500 people at Ghadge Maharaj Temple during the pandemic. He has also taken responsibility for the education of two girls upto college, along with the betterment of deaf & mute children. Plus, four classrooms for over 50 students from the slum are provided by him. Those in need of medical or other such needs have been selflessly helped by him with donations. A Lion’s Club member since 2009, he was elected to its chairman in 2010 and has done various activities for the club. He also donates every year to Lions Club for multiple activities.
He dreams to be a worldwide known construction brand like Tata, L&T or Shapoorji Pallonji Group in the next 10 years. This self-made man also wants to motivate others to stand out and make an impact. He keeps on ensuring to break his own profit record soon and work with major players in the PEB-related sectors.
His message to the young generation is– ‘Success is 100% yours if you complete any undertaking with full focus, and ‘You are an Architect of your own Life’. He knows he succeeded because his motto was ‘triumph comes to those who work with honesty & integrity.
Yogesh Wake’s success boils down to self-belief, faith in his work & ethics, his concepts, and daring to dream big. He is a case study of truly inspiring success, courtesy of his Group Surya PEB & Civil Works Pvt. Ltd, Group Surya (Heavy Engineering & Civil Construction Division), Shree Sai Fleet Services Pvt. Ltd and Yashasvi Realtors LLP (Industrial Park Development). Robert H Schuller has rightly said – Tough times never last, but tough people do.
Also, Group Surya is coming up with their new setup in Indapur MIDC, near Pune which is spread in around 27 Acres of land. This would be one of the largest PEB Manufacturing units in Maharashtra with a fully automized setup and is expected to be functional by Sept 2021.
Ongoing Projects –
- ESR Industrial Logistic Park (BTS Project – 70 Acre development in Chakan) His major client being Amazon who is the first one to enter this space occupying 6 lakh sq ft of built up area.
- Malpani Industrial Logistics Park, Chakan, Pune – 75 acre
- Magarpatta Industrial Park, Chakan – 50 acres
- Crane Process Flow Technologies Pvt Ltd Satara –30 Acres
Awards & recognition –
- Sakal Excellence Award
- Melvin Jones Fellowship Award by Lions International Foundation best leader in SME
- Green world Young Entrepreneurship award
- Tata Steel excellence award
For More Details: https://groupsurya.in/
