Aparup Sengupta, the global chief executive of the company, who flew in from Mumbai to attend the announcement of the company’s investment in the city, told TheBusinessDesk.com that 600 was ’just the beginning’.
“Within 18 to 24 months what we call our experience centre will be up and running and customers will be able to come and see for themselves what we can do for them in terms of customer service and then we expect a snowball effect and we will see the growth momentum picking up.”
Mr Sengupta said he had been “hugely impressed” by the welcome he had received on this, his first visit to the city.
“My colleagues who have run the project have been delighted with the approach to doing business by the people in Manchester with MIDAS and Bruntwood.”
He said Manchester had seen off competition from five other cities in the UK and Ireland to win the investment from the firm, which is will turnover $1bn for the first time this year, and is looking to expand into Europe.
Mr Sengupta said the talent pool and connectivity in Manchester were a key factor, along with the city’s ability to act quickly to its requirements.
“Our people are our biggest asset and we have a policy of locating our people, where possible, in city centres near infrastructure and the railway station so City Tower is great.
“We did not want to be in the middle of nowhere where our people would find it difficult to get to work.”
Manchester city council leader Sir Richard Leese said the investment from Aegis - part of the $16bn Essar conglomerate - was sends out a message that the city is a great place to invest.
“In the past week we have seen Etihad, Ryanair and now Aegis announce major projects which will create jobs and grow our economy. This shows were are competing, and winning on quality.”
Chris Oglesby, chief executive of Bruntwood, which has let 40,000 sq ft at City Tower to Aegis, said: “In the four months we have been working on this project Aegis have proved to be great partners, and I am sure they will fit in and thrive in Manchester.
“It is a entrepreneurial company which puts providing excellent customer service at the heart of its business, which is what we strive to do at Bruntwood.”
Oglesby said Bruntowood was seeing positive levels of interest and has a number of deals in the pipeline.
“We’re having to work harder for deals, but there is clearly significant levels of interest in Manchester from outside the city, which is good news.”
He said the way Bruntwood, MIDAS and UKTI has worked together on the Aegis deal was a “great example” of the public and private sectors working together to drive economic growth.
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