Prateek Singhal is the 4th generation of the renowned Singhal Family of Udaipur who has passionately taken up the family business.
Prateek is a young entrepreneur who has grown with umpteen experience to today’s business format and tells us about the journey of their business over these years.
WT: Prateek! It’s 65 years !!! Singhal Tent House is a legacy you own. How do you feel? Tell us when you got into this business?
Prateek: It feels great to be a part of this legacy! Singhal tent house was the first tent house business in the region of Mewar started by my great-grandfather. This business was then taken to heights by my grandfather Shri Rajnath Singhal and father Shri Veeresh Singhal. I got in to this business in 2010 after finishing my MBA and gaining work experience in Mumbai.
WT: The concept of Tentwala doesn’t exist anymore instead they have moved to better terms called event managers. How do you see today as compared to the days your great grand parents ran this organisation.
Prateek: In order to get more exposure, in 2010, I started my own event management company called Eon events which was a part of Singhal Tent house. The scenario is highly different at present. The concept of events is more jazzed up now. There has been a tremendous growth in the industry. The events organised by my great grand fathers were simpler. These days people look for more creativity as compared to earlier days.
WT: When did you introduce “The Event Affairs” and with what objective?
Prateek: TEA was earlier known as Eon events and was introduced in 2010. Eon events was later changed to The Event Affairs in 2015. The objective was to introduce the concept of “events” and bring about a major change to the image of Singhal Tent House that apart from traditional tent business, we are fully involved in executing modern day events and destination weddings.
WT: There has been a massive increase in destination weddings and elephantine when it comes to Udaipur. Can you share some insights?
Prateek: Udaipur is one of the most popular destination for weddings in the world. Reason being, there are very unique palace properties like Jagmandir Island Palace, Zenana Mahal et al which are well maintained till date and adds up to the beauty of this city. Also the pristine lakes and natural beauty is another important element.
People these days want to make their weddings a memory they can cherish forever, hence the concept is growing. Besides, people also want to have a close interactive wedding ceremony with the near and dear ones which they usually don’t get to do because of busier work schedules.
WT: There are various designers you deal with from different cities? What’s your experience with them? You suffice all their requirements?
Prateek: I have worked with a lot of designers and companies and every time I get to learn something new. Every designer/company have their unique requirements and we try to fulfil them in the best of our capacity. We have three godowns based in the city where we have ample amount of inventory to cater to every event’s production requirement. Right from fabric to decor props to structures and fixtures, everything is in-house.
WT: What are the expectations of NRI clientele with you? They prefer themes or the royal self of this heritage city?
Prateek: NRI clients are amazing to work with. They prefer more of royal self of this city. They like to explore more of royalty than themes. The wedding are mostly small but full of detailed work which adds up to our excitement in successful execution of the event.
WT: Which are the large scale weddings you have executed?
Prateek: Tantis wedding (Suzlon power with Gurleen Puri), Parekh wedding (Pune with Gurleen Puri), Gupta wedding (with Devika Narain)
WT: Do you ever feel you would want to get into destination wedding business outside Udaipur? Why?
Prateek: Yes we have executed destination weddings in Indore, Jaipur and Delhi. We look forward to work in other cities as well. We also have a few projects in line. I feel more exposure helps in bringing the best out of a person. Ours is a creative field so why not explore other cities too!
WT: Where do you place yourself amongst your local competitors?
Prateek: Being the oldest company in Udaipur, we hold a strong position in the market. Competition is quite stiff here and we put in our 100% efforts to excel in our field. We don’t compromise on quality and hence do not under quote just in order to get work and then not delivering the best to cut cost.
WT: Any wedding you would like to term it as your “Ultimate Work”?
Prateek: I have fulfilled many with designers and clients directly that have set benchmarks, yet there is a quest to achieve more challenging jobs. If anything closer I can talk of, I feel my recent NRI wedding project for a client from Australia was highly appreciated by the bride and groom themselves. The project involved designing to execution of collaterals to celebrations.