Gender disparity is prevalent across all industry sectors, however, the automotive sector has been the least successful at attracting and retaining female employees. Owing to factors such as unattractive environment for women, lack of work-life balance and flexible schedules among various others, the Indian automotive industry has seen one of the lowest percentages of women in its ranks. However, in adversity, we find the most inspirational stories.

One such success story is of Garima Mittal Mishra, a competent professional with over 20 years of experience in the automotive retail industry. Currently functioning as the MD for Group Landmark, she has successfully worked with top automobile manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, Jeep, Volkswagen India, Honda, and Ashok Leyland, to mention a few.

Garima has a Bachelor's degree in commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce and a Master's degree in business administration from Delhi's Fore School of Management. She brings along expertise pertaining to business planning strategies, exceptional relationship building and interpersonal skills to the table, along with strong analytics and problem-solving expertise.

In a conversation with the Women Entrepreneur team, Garima talks about her exceptional organizational abilities and shares her thoughts on how more women can be brought to the automobile retail market.

Give us a brief overview of group landmark. What are the founding principles of the company?

Group Landmark specializes in automobile sales as well as after-sales service. We opened our first dealership with Honda in Ahmedabad in 1998 and later expanded to other cities of Gujarat like Rajkot, Surat etc. In 2008, we were given the opportunity to start the Volkswagen dealership in the city of Ahmedabad. Mercedes-Benz in Gujarat was looking for a partner to buy out the existing dealer in 2009, and that's where we applied and were offered the Mercedes Benz dealership for the state of Gujarat. From 1998 to 2014, we were mostly a Gujarat-based organization. TPG, a world-renowned PE investor group invested in our group in 2015. It is then that we started our expansion outside Gujarat. Today, we are proud owners of over 100 outlets across the country.

Group Landmark is a professionally run organization wherein our main pillars are our people. Our people are our most valuable asset, and we've always had a lot of faith in them. People stay with us for a long time because we genuinely care about our employees, nurture them, and entrust them with a great deal of responsibility and authority.

Take us through your educational journey and how did you foray into the automotive retail sector? What aspects of your personality have helped you traverse through your journey at group landmark?

I did my B.com honors from Sri Ram College of Commerce and I did my MBA from Fore School of Management, Delhi. I am a national level basketball player too.

Life is all about saying yes to the right opportunity at the right moment. Life provides many opportunities for everyone, but we often overthink and fail to take advantage of them. This is something I did not do; instead, I was willing to take a risk. The opportunity to enter the automobile retail sector really happened by chance, the Honda dealership in Ahmedabad was looking for someone to run the business, I applied and got it.

“A competent professional with more than 20 years of experience within automotive retail industry, Garima has the experience of working with leading automobile brands like Mercedes Benz, Jeep, Volkswagen India, Honda, Ashok Leyland to name a few”

A strong belief in self, a never-say-die attitude, honesty and confidence in the people that one works with along with passion and compassion, will pave the road for you to achieve your goals. I believe that if one truly wants something, one will find a way to get it.

Tell us about your prior industry experience before coming onboard group landmark as the MD. What are some business lessons that you learned through your prior industry experience that are still a part of your approach to leadership?

I joined my father's travel agency when I was 17 years old. He told me that I have to earn my own way, so I had to work as a receptionist, issue tickets, and handle customer enquiries. He made me go through the entire grind. This lesson went a long way and made me a person who was grounded and levelled for whom hard work became a way of life.

Much like various other sectors, the automotive industry fares rather poorly in terms of representation of women in top leadership roles. In your opinion how can this be rectified in the near future?

I believe there is something fundamentally wrong with the way we raise our children. When a girl is born, she is made to play with dolls and kitchen sets. When a boy is born, we give him cars and aeroplanes. We need to change this gender discrimination in our homes.

Only 20-25 percent of women pursue engineering, with the majority opting for computers and electronics engineering, and barely any opt for automobile engineering. Women need to break the shackles of society and believe in themselves. I believe women contribute to the organization's hygiene and discipline. There is nothing that a woman cannot accomplish.

Garima Mittal Misra

Garima Mittal Mishra is a competent professional with more than 20 years of experience within the Automotive Retail industry.