Destination Delhi

Dutch couple Lalita de Goederen-van Lamsweerde and her husband Alexander have always been fascinated by India,so when he was offered a job with real estate firm DTZ International,they were eager to move. Once in the city,Lalita,30,realised the only thing she missed about Amsterdam was the variety of breads. So she scoured around for a suitable location and last month launched her own shop: Bagel’s Cafe in Gurgaon,a 900 square-feet two storey cafe,specialising in breads. “Breads are integral to our cuisine. Now I feel perfectly at home,” grins Lalita,whose only brush with the hospitality industry before this has been handling the corporate account of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s restaurant,Fifteen,during her days at Burson-Marsteller,a PR firm. Her husband too,has since branched out and launched his own real estate company,which focuses on residential projects.

The de Goederens are no exception,rather a part of a growing tribe of foreigners who are coming to India for more than just a brief expatriate fling and more for entrepreneural opportunities. “Despite the economic crisis worldwide things here are still robust and for our industry there’s huge scope,” says Jonathan Walter,director of Flying Fox,an adventure tourism company that began operations in Neemrana this year. They take people on aerial zip tours over the city. Walter,a former British army officer and fellow Briton Richard Mc Callum’s tryst with India began when he worked in Delhi for Cathay Pacific Airlines. “We are looking to expand it to other cities in Rajasthan as well,” he says. Meanwhile,French couple Amaury Watine and Stephanie Bonduelle have launched a lifestyle products store,Ultrastore in Hauz Khas Village recently. They have a successful interior design company in Paris,Ultra Confidential,but the growth here made them rethink their plans. They entrusted the Paris office to a partner and moved to Delhi,where their business in custom made furniture for office complexes is thriving. “In business a lot depends on being at the right place at the right time. Asia,particularly India has turned out to be a well-timed move for me,” says 27-year-old Watine,pointing at the melange of Buddha figureheads and kitschy French products lining the walls.

Thirty three-year-old Davut Birgul from Turkey came to India for his Masters in Economics. and sensed a business opportunity in offering authentic Turkish cuisine. “I started it because I was homesick,” smiles Birgul,who runs Anatolia,a small eatery in the bustling bylines of Lajpat Nagar. The unpretentious 30-cover diner serves Turkish specialities like Urfa Kebabs and Kemalpasa “Sustaining it in a city like Delhi is quite a task. Everything is chaotic and disorganised,” he says.

There are other disadvantages too,Dutch entrepreneur Noreen van Holstein runs cards4u,an advertising solutions agency in Lajpat Nagar. “My biggest issue is,in Europe when one says yes,it means the deal is done. Here,it’s meaningless. It only implies the start of a long-drawn process,” she says.

Still,these foreigners are pretty optimistic about their future in India. “For someone with no prior experience in business here,things have been quite smooth,” says Goederen-van Lamsweerde. “This is home now,” says

Watine adding,“Now if only we could get French wine and cheese life would be perfect.”