Tariq Chauhan is the CEO and Co-founder of EFS Group, a global leader in Facilities Management. Tariq is a visionary business leader and is widely acknowledged for his contribution to FM in the region. Tariq was featured on the cover page of Forbes July’s issue amongst the Top CEOs. He has been ranked in 2021 and 2022 by Forbes Middle East amongst Top CEOs and has been listed multiple times as part of the Top 5 Indian Executives in the Forbes Ranking. He is also ranked twelfth amongst the Top Business Leaders and ranked second in the FM Power 30 by Construction Business News. He was awarded the Innovative Leader of the Year and the Industry Leader of the Year by Innovation in Construction & FM Awards and nominated by GCC GOV HR Awards as the People First Leader in 2021.
He established EFS as a household name in less than a decade, taking its turnover from AED 100mn to over a billion and an enterprise value of over two billion. In this period, Tariq expanded its company presence from 5 countries to 21 countries across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and Turkey and 22,000 employees.
The Group’s strategic growth has accelerated the FM market share in the region, bringing key clients into the portfolio across its Global operations. Several projects, such as a Technology Major, landmark aviation projects and many more, became part of the strategic market acquisition for EFS to deliver extraordinary services. Earlier in the year, EFS also announced new appointments across the Group, which saw internal and external promotions and additions to the team to contribute to its growth and expansion.
Apart from its project successes over the past 12 month, EFS has been at the forefront of being a ‘People-First’ company and was recognsied for this at the Taqdeer Awards in 2022. The were awarded this for its contribution to Expo 2020 Dubai’s Worker Welfare and Health & Safety standards, implementing the best labor practices and exceptional service towards Expo 2020 while maintaining highly engaged and motivated staff.
The group recently announced that it was offering life insurance for all its front-line staff which will benefit close 100,000 family members.
Group CEO of EFS, Tariq Chauhan said: “The concept of ‘People First’ evolved with my journey at EFS, where business is centered around people. They directly render more than two-thirds of services, and most of the cost of running the company is also related to them. I realized that for employee happiness is integral to company wellbeing. I adopted ‘People First’ as my crucial strategy to build an organization where employee happiness and self-actualization mattered. In our outreach to build a true People First Organization, we realized that the company’s Human Resources focus must rest with the engagement of its blue-collar workforce.”
EFS also launched its cloud kitchen ‘EFS Gourmet’ which serves international fusion of Northwestern and Coromandel cuisines as a way to continue enhancing their customer experience.
Tariq is relentlessly working to build the case of upskilling in the FM industry and raising the bar in built environments and workplaces. He has set new benchmarks in facilities management through quality service delivery, people initiatives and innovation.