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Hailing from an eminent Indian-origin business family of Hong Kong, Girish was quick to realize that his family OEM watchmaking business was in a dying industry. He pivoted and built a successful boutique hotel brand starting from a service apartment concept. Along the way, Girish broke many rules and invented several news ones. Ovolo now has 13 hotels across Asia Pacific.

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๐๐จ๐ญ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐๐ฎ๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ:

โ€œ๐‘Š๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ, ๐‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘กโ€ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘ข๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘š ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘‚๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘œ ๐‘ค๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘˜ ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘’.โ€

โ€œ๐ผ๐‘กโ€™๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘š๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ฅ๐‘–๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘š๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘ . ๐‘Š๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘ก ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก. ๐ผ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘’๐‘™๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘ข๐‘ . ๐‘Š๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘”๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘. ๐‘ƒ๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘ฆ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘™๐‘๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ข๐‘ .โ€

โ€œ๐ธ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐ผ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘™ ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ , ๐ผ ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘‚๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘œ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก. ๐‘Šโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘š, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘” ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”โ€ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘™ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ขโ€ฆ ๐‘Š๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘’ ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘๐‘™๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’โ€ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ-๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’โ€ฆ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘˜ ๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ฆ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก. ๐‘€๐‘–๐‘›๐‘– ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘’โ€ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘™ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘๐‘ฆ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘๐‘™๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘‘โ€ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก 2 ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘ข๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘‘.โ€

โ€œ๐ผ๐‘“ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ค ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ž๐‘ข๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘ก, ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก. ๐‘Šโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ค ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘ข๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ž, ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก. ๐ผ ๐‘œ๐‘“๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘˜ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ 3๐‘ƒ๐‘ : ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก, ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’โ€ฆ ๐‘‚๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ-๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘ฆ๐‘ง๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ž ๐‘˜๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘ฆ.โ€

โ€œ๐ป๐พ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘”๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘”โ„Ž ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ฆ ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก. ๐‘Š๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘  ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘™๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘ .โ€

โ€œ๐ป๐พ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘›. ๐ผ๐‘กโ€™๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘™ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘. ๐ผ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘’ ๐‘Ž ๐‘”๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘  ๐‘๐‘’๐‘–๐‘™๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”. ๐ผ๐‘“ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘, ๐‘‘๐‘œ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”, ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ , ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’. ๐‘‰๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ ๐‘ฆ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘š, ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก.โ€

โ€œ๐ผ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐ป๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘” ๐พ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘”. ๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘› โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’. ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘  ๐‘๐‘’๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘š๐‘ฆ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’. ๐ผ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘๐‘’. ๐ผ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’. ๐‘†๐‘œ ๐‘š๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘ก๐‘–-๐‘๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘™. ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘˜๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘ , ๐‘๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข.โ€ โ€œ๐ป๐พ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘’๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘ฆ. ๐ธ๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘Š๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก. ๐ผ๐‘“ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘› โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’.โ€

๐†๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ž:
Girish is the Founder & CEO of Ovolo Hotels, an independent hotel operator providing effortless living through award-winning interior designs, all-inclusive comforts, focused personal services and cutting-edge in-suite technology. Ovolo currently owns and operates four hotels in Hong Kong, one in Melbourne, two in Brisbane, one in Canberra and two in Sydney. With more opportunities on the horizon, Ovolo is taking its brand to a larger, international audience, continuing its impressive journey as an innovative provider of cool living spaces and bright ideas.

Born in Hong Kong, Girish graduated from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.  He began his career managing his family’s OEM watch business under the Hind Group of companies in Hong Kong. He set up watch factories across the Chinese border until 1998. In 2002, he sold the business and ventured into property development.

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