“We were able to smoothly ramp up in a new region”

Tech Mahindra, a subsidiary of the Indian IT giant Mahindra Group opened another German branch in Leipzig, Germany at the beginning of 2019 located in Specks Hof. In close cooperation between the City of Leipzig, Wirtschaftsförderung Sachsen GmbH and Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI), Invest Region Leipzig GmbH succeeded in enabling the company to successfully enter into the economic region.  Tech Mahindra employs around 90 people and operates a German-speaking service center, largely for customers from the pharmaceutical sector. After a light settlement, the so-called ‘soft landing’, the signs are now pointing to growth. The 38-year-old Indian, Shwet Sabharwal, leads the Leipzig branch of Tech Mahindra and already has exact growth plans.

Mr. Sabharwal, Tech Mahindra has opened 10 locations in Germany since the end of the 1990s, with the most recent being a call center in Dresden. Further you operate your own technology forge with the Makers Lab in Munich. In your opinion, what makes Leipzig different from other German business locations?

The other Tech Mahindra locations are located closer to or at client premises and specific to IT. Furthermore, Leipzig is one of the largest and fastest growing cities in East Germany, and most importantly, Leipzig has a huge talent pool availability with the Leipzig University catering to almost 29,500 young people currently studying at the university in about 157 courses.

Before moving into your new company headquarters in Specks Hof in the center of Leipzig, you first spent four months in the coworking spaces at the Design Offices. What experience have you had with this so-called ‘soft landing? Can you recommend this form of expansion to other service companies?

After much searching and with the assistance from Invest Region Leipzig, we were able to identify Design Offices. They were chosen due to the proximity to the city center and public transportation. The Augustusplatz tram station is directly opposite the Design Offices building. Moreover, since ‘Time is Money’, another reason was the complete infrastructure facility provided by Design Offices which made it easy to start our initial trainings immediately with little or no investment from our side in immovable assets. It served as a Plug and Play solution for us while our permanent site was getting prepared. This approach of a ‘soft landing’ is definitely worth exploring for every organization starting up in the city of Leipzig and I would strongly recommend it due to its several benefits.

Your new premises offer space for up to 500 employees. Who should apply to the open positions and what do you have to offer as an employer?

Tech Mahindra has several clients from various fields such as healthcare, finance, technical support, customer care, service desk, etc. We offer Open ended or permanent employment contracts as well as part time contracts. We offer 30 days of annual leave, which is above average for most German companies within this industry. Tech Mahindra has emerged as a leading global provider of digital transformation, consulting and business reengineering services and solutions. As we continue to progress, this phenomenal growth also brings several opportunities to grow with us. In Leipzig, our office is at one of the most accessible and best located offices since we are in the middle of the market at Specks Hof. We also provide an excellent working atmosphere with a works council. Our current offerings are for Technical Support and we are looking for energetic and self-motivated people who either have experience in a technical service center or have technical certifications.

What personal experiences have you had with the welcome culture in Leipzig?

Leipzig has been very welcoming to Tech Mahindra and has helped us grow fast. Due to Leipzig’s excellent infrastructure, it’s vastly growing talent pool, and it’s unique quality of life we have decided to multiply our center. Thanks to the help received from the city’s officials as well as Invest Region Leipzig we are now able to call Leipzig our home.

How do you rate the Invest Region Leipzig expansion service?

We would rate the Invest Region Leipzig team as excellent. On a scale of 1 to 10, a perfect 10. It was by their initiative we were able to smoothly ramp up in a new region.