When I started my first company, I was not thinking about group structures or legacy. I was thinking about accommodation. Affordable, well-managed places for people coming to Singapore — professionals, expats, people who needed somewhere decent to live without paying through the nose.
The business was about guests. Hosting people. Making them feel at home in a city that was not theirs yet.
So I needed a name.
I spent weeks on it. Nothing felt right. Most names felt too corporate, or too forgettable, or like they belonged to someone else's business. I wanted something that carried real meaning — something that reflected what I was actually trying to do, not just what the company was called.
I am a deeply spiritual person. Hindu teachings and philosophy are not just a belief system for me — they are the lens through which I understand business, relationships, responsibility, and how to treat people. These roots go deep. I did not pick them up later in life. They were there from the beginning.
And one of the teachings I had carried the longest was this:
Atithi Devo Bhava.
The guest is god.
In our tradition, when a guest arrives at your door, you do not simply welcome them. You treat their arrival as a sacred moment. You serve them before you serve yourself. Their comfort is not an afterthought — it is the whole point. A guest is not an inconvenience. A guest is a blessing.
I was building a business for guests. That teaching was the entire business philosophy.
And then one evening, I looked at the verse again. And I saw the name.
Athithi — DevO — BHAva
ADOBHA
It was right there. Not invented. Found. Hidden inside something ancient, waiting.
When the name outgrew the company
After Adobha launched, we grew. Agriculture in Tamil Nadu. Construction in Singapore. Software tools for SMEs. Energy and solar. Each new venture raised the same question: should it carry its own name?
For a while I thought yes. Each business has its own identity, its own market, its own story. Adobha was a hospitality brand. Why should a construction company or an agri-supply chain share its name?
But the more I sat with it, the more I realised I was thinking about it wrong.
Atithi Devo Bhava is not about guests in the narrow sense. A guest is simply someone who comes to you seeking something. That describes every customer in every industry. The property manager who needs a reliable contractor. The Tamil Nadu farmer who needs a fair price. The startup founder who needs AI that actually works. The expat who needs a clean, honest place to live.
Every one of them arrives at your door seeking something.
Every one of them deserves to be treated as god.
So the name became the group name. Not because I ran out of ideas. But because I realised the principle was not specific to hospitality — it was the principle. The one belief that should govern every interaction in every company, regardless of what the company does or sells or builds.
Whoever seeks your service — treat them as god.
Thirteen years in, I have not found a better reason to be in business than that.