Nimish Kenia, Co-Founder, Happy Planet
Nimish Kenia is the Co-Founder of Happy Planet. He is a Chartered Accountant by profession and the creative mind behind Happy Planet along with two fellow friends Mehul and Sameer. Launched in 2010, Happy Planet is in its eight year of operations and has centres in Mumbai and Pune.
In conversation with Dominic Rebello, Nimish says, “Innovative thinking is at the heart of Happy Planet trying to make it accessible for every child.”
What is the idea behind Happy Planet?
In today’s world of gadgets to give kids an opportunity to expend physical energy & where they can explore creativity with adventure. The inspiration behind Happy Planet comes from the time when we took our kids abroad and exposed them to such indoor playparks and they loved it so much that we decided to bring in a much better “proprietary mix” idea to India and offer it for our kids in India. This is our 9th year of operations and it’s been a well accepted idea with lot of brand loyalty due to uniqueness of our offerings!
How are you different from others?
There are many play zones in India - but only one happy planet! The reason being Happy Planet offers the option that most of our zones can be enjoyed by the parents as well as grownups, Like the trampoline, ninja challenge, the steep slides, aerial adventure, indoor zip line etc. Happy Planet cause of the safe physical indoor play options it offers which as a combination of multi-zones in one park isn’t commonly available.
Is entertainment for kids a growing section in malls?
Yes of course...given the paucity of open spaces and vagaries of weather-the malls have become entertainment and hangout hubs for families and thus kids playing options are sought for and will continue to be sought for. At Happy Planet vast playgrounds are structured to attend to the kids, and help them indulge in outdoor-like activities such as a created football play zone, aerial adventure and even a trampoline park set inside an institutional premise, it cannot get any better for children to indulge in these commercial complexes.
Your vision for the company?
We have 2 locations of over 6000 sq ft in Phoenix market city Pune and Mumbai. To take happy planet pan India we are looking to launch another store in the coming 4/6 months. We plan to open 4 more in next 2 years and looking out for franchisees.
Where do you see yourself five years down the road?
Having approximately 20/25 outlets and a significant differentiator in the entertainment space which would be sought after.