PLEASE WALK US THROUGH YOUR COMPANY

KOCHIE GLOBAL is a multinational corporation that has well established itself as a trendsetter in the playground equipment and outdoor fitness industry. The brand’s products meet with the highest international safety standards and incorporate a unique multi sensorial dimension that is specifically designed to facilitate behavioural, cognitive and motor development, alongside addressing social and emotional aspects of child development. Such a holistic approach to play and children is our revolutionary and significant contribution to our society.

“The dream (after all everything begins with a dream) we had, is not about just producing or selling playground systems, fitness equipment and flooring solutions like no one else does, nor was it to offer a product that everyone wanted, but to become a globally recognised brand that offers TOTAL END TO END SOLUTIONS like no one else does.”- Roben DASS (Founder, Chairman & Managing Director – KOOCHIE GLOBAL)

ABOUT KEY PERSON– by Indrani Banerjee

The visionary behind Koochie Global is Roben DASS who began his career as an entrepreneur and thereon established several profitable organisations. These were involved in imports and exports, distribution of products related to the construction industry, educational institution etc. He has also been the CEO of Roffe Construction Chemicals Pvt Ltd [which till today is one of the most successful construction chemical brands in India]. However, when the idea of “changing the way the world plays” struck him, he actually sold off or closed all his other successful ventures as he honestly felt the importance to provide tested, safe & certified play to children was actually the need of the hour. And that’s how Koochie Global was born.

COULD YOU THROW SOME LIGHT ON THE GAMUT OF PRODUCTS UNDER THE KOOCHIE UMBRELLA

While we have three main product verticals, playground equipment, outdoor fitness gyms and safety flooring solutions we have one of the widest ranges of product offerings within our own various brands and our joint ventures with our partners in Spain, UK and Denmark. This enables us to offer products and solutions to nearly every market segment right from entry level projects to Uber Premium and highly sophisticated / customized [bespoke] projects. All our products are tested and certified to meet the most stringent international safety standards without exception. Our credentials of offering world class solutions for close to two decades combined with the pedigree of our joint venture partners allow us to offer a combined expertise of over 60 years of research, technology, product design, quality   and safety standards which sets us up in a very unique position in the industry. Our brand has been known to be innovators as we introduce new products, designs, technology ever so often, our latest offering is digital, state of the art, interactive play solutions, a first of its kind in India, that we have recently introduced and which has been taking the market by storm.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR CLIENT BASE

Koochie Play caters to an audience that requires safe and world class playgrounds and outdoor fitness gyms like — resorts, parks, residential complex, malls, gardens and schools. Koochie as a brand has clearly established itself as the most preferred brand amongst nearly all reputed builders & schools across the country. Internationally, the brand is present in the United Arab Emirates, Bhutan, Morocco, France, Australia, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam.

WHAT ACCORDING TO YOU ARE THE CHALLENGES YOU HAVE FACED?

One of the biggest challenges the team faced was in educating people why tested and certified equipment that meets all international safety standards is so very critical for their projects. Getting across the basic concept of how important child safety is in selecting the right playground was definitely a challenging task but slowly and steadily, we did get there and today we can proudly say that we’ve created the awareness of the importance of ensuring that our children are provided with safe, tested & certified equipment. Using tested and certified equipment also distances project owners from liabilities that could arise due to negligence.

ANY SPECIAL ENDEAVOURS THAT YOU MAY HAVE MADE TO IMPACT THIS INDUSTRY OVER THE YEARS?

In addition to constant ideation and innovation and educating the community at large, our goal & objective was to contribute to the industry that we all work in. In 2015, Koochie Global introduced a unique concept coined ‘KONECTIONS’ – A World Summit that attempts to provide a global forum to showcase our industry’s talent and provide a platform to exchange and experience latest technology and knowledge to put our synergies together and engage in enhancing the role and vision of landscape urbanism. This venture is a purely not for profit enterprise and has very clear goals and objectives which primarily allow for a global exposure of the Indian landscape industry and fraternity.

Global Business today is all about finding synergies within the spaces we work, and we all need various platforms to help explore and find such synergies amongst us. It’s about how we, join hands together across our work places, across our cities, across our cultures, across countries and combine each of our energies to bring about something very unique and powerful creating a “COMMON SYNERGY” which is something all of us can use as a very powerful tool, together to mutual benefit.

TELL US MORE ABOUT KONNECTIONS

KONNECTIONS is brand “Koochie”s humble offering to the industry that we work in.

KONNECTIONS began as a small event coinciding with the launch of our operations in Thailand in the year 2015, followed by “An Ode to Geoffrey Bawa” in Sri Lanka in 2016 and then Dubai in 2017. KONNECTIONS 2019 – VIETNAM was staged in the historic city of Ho-Chi-Minh. The 5th chapter of Konnections took place just last month in the historic, architecturally beautiful and inspiring city of Istanbul, Turkey.

The concept and substance of KONNECTIONS is to provide for a confluence of ideas, knowledge, information, technology, and a network of spirited minds across borders and countries. Over these years, this event has snowballed into a spectacular, wonderful and amazing platform where every year, the crème-de-la-crème of the India’s leading designers & architects meet over a few days at an exotic destination, to network and interact with their peers, experiencing and taking in the cultures, experiences, architecture, design and ideas of another country.

COULD YOU TAKE US THROUGH THE KONNECTIONS JOURNEY SO FAR

Konnections was launched in Thailand in 2015 and took place in the spectacular city of Bangkok; known for its cultural and architectural landmarks, historical sites. Stalwarts from India’s landscape architect community met with their counterparts in Thailand and what ensued was a dynamic and power packed evening filled with knowledge exchange and sharing, the first of its kind and with this Konnections went on to become an annual and much looked after and anticipated event in the years to follow.

In 2016, Konnections “An Ode to Geoffrey Bawa” was staged in the colonial city of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Ancient Sri Lankan architecture focuses primarily on being environmentally friendly as well as sustainability at the same time.

The next chapter of Konnections just had to be Dubai, the city of skyscrapers, ports, and beaches, where big business takes place alongside sun-seeking tourism. A city known for its ultramodern and cutting edge architecture!!

The Konnections Dubai World Summit included an unforgettable conference where we were fortunate to have internationally renowned keynote speakers such as Mr Robert SHAKESPEARE – Senior Director, CRACKNELL, Mr. Kourosh SALEHI – Principal Architect, ATKINS and Mr Benjamin PIPER – Partner, Design Principal, KILLA DESIGN amongst others!!

2019 witnessed Konnections chapter 4 at Ho Chi Minh, the largest city, business and financial hub of Vietnam. Also known as Saigon, it has a prominent history going back hundreds of years.

Once again, we had the privilege of stalwarts such as Steve Van AELST– Director Architecture – Van AELST I Nguyen & Partners, Mr. Andrew FROST –Dark Horse Architecture and Mr. Viraj CHATTERJEE ONE Landscape , Hongkong share their rich and invaluable knowledge and experiences with us.

2020 and 2021 made the world virtually pretty much come to a standstill with the unfortunate and unexpected pandemic. After a gap of almost three years, the world slowly limped back to normalcy this year in 2022 and it was time to revive the much awaited annual Konnections World Summit yet again and that’s exactly what we did at the fantastic city of Istanbul, Turkey, this November!!

What better destination than Turkey, we thought!! The Turkish architecture developed from the earlier Seljuk architecture and influenced by the Byzantine architecture, Iranian as well as Islamic Mamluk traditions after the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans.

What a power packed evening we had with global stalwarts such as Ms. Başak Taş Özdemir, Director, Spiga Landscape, Mr. Christopher JONES (Founder, Feeding Cities), Mr. Yilmaz AKTAS (Director, Meta Landscape), Ms. Asli ERGEN (Founder, AEL Landscape Architects, Design Studio), gracing us with their presence and what ensued was a simply outstanding knowledge sharing experience!!

WHAT DO YOU FEEL TODAY ABOUT WHERE YOU’VE REACHED SO FAR?

Today, as we look back at how far we’ve come, we do feel a sense of immense satisfaction and achievement, though at the same time we also know that this is just the beginning with many more years to follow with opportunities to be of service to this industry and last but not the least, to our very special children community across the globe!!

We’ve definitely changed the way this world plays and look forward to continue doing so in the years to come.

What is the one most important factor you credit to the brand’s success?

Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much!! Teamwork has the incredible power to increase productivity, efficiency, customer satisfaction and overall performance. If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself. At Koochie Global we are fortunate to have one of the most passionate and driven teams that any company could ask for. I would attribute this very factor as being responsible for our meteoric growth and for bringing us where we are today.