The Story of GlobalFair: Building the Future of Cross-Border Construction Procurement

The Story of GlobalFair: Building the Future of Cross-Border Construction Procurement

Sometimes the most disruptive ideas come from deeply personal experiences. For GlobalFair founder Shaily Garg, growing up in a small quartz manufacturing family in India provided unique insights into the challenges of cross-border trade – insights that would later shape her approach to transforming the construction materials industry.

From Manufacturing Roots to Global Vision

Before founding GlobalFair, Shaily’s experience at P&G gave her a front-row seat to efficient manufacturing at scale. But it was her family’s manufacturing background that helped her spot a crucial gap in the market when COVID hit.

“Covid disrupted the entire supply chain,” Shaily explains. “Let’s look at the industry which got impacted the most, which was construction materials. Since I come from a very small quartz manufacturing family, I knew a lot about the material on the supply side.”

Finding Opportunity in Crisis

While many saw the pandemic as a business catastrophe, Shaily saw it differently. “For us, quite frankly, Brett, Covid, while for the world, it was a very big, had a negative side to it, but for us, it was a blessing in disguise, because Covid literally ensured that sustainable businesses stay in the market.”

The construction sector, contributing to 13% of world GDP but with only 1.7% technology investment, presented a perfect opportunity. There were suppliers eager to sell, customers desperate to buy, and technology was the missing link.

The Evolution of a Business Model

GlobalFair’s journey wasn’t straightforward. Starting with seven categories, they quickly realized that mastering supply would be their competitive moat. This led to a crucial decision to focus exclusively on construction materials, where they had deep domain expertise.

Their model evolved from a simple marketplace to a managed marketplace, where they control everything except the machinery in their partner factories. This hands-on approach enables them to guarantee quality for orders averaging $120,000 and reaching up to $1.2 million.

Building Trust Through Control

For GlobalFair, trust isn’t built through fancy technology but through rigorous quality control. “QC is a very big part of whatever we send,” Shaily notes. “Pre production, in production, and post production, pre shipment, there are four levels of QC that happens.”

This approach has led to remarkable results: 110% month-over-month growth, 98% customer retention, and customers ordering eight times their initial purchase within their first year.

The Vision Ahead

GlobalFair’s ambitions extend far beyond their current success. As Shaily puts it, “Be the Alibaba for B2B Southeast Asia… Our vision is to make cross border as hassle freest and as seamless as buying from an external neighbor.”

But this vision goes deeper than just building a marketplace. Shaily draws inspiration from Mukesh Ambani, admiring how his work with Reliance Industries “fueled the entire country’s growth for this decade.” She sees GlobalFair playing a similar transformative role in cross-border trade.

The company is already making strides toward this vision, operating in 36 US states and recently reaching EBITDA positivity. By focusing on making international procurement as simple as buying from a next-door neighbor, GlobalFair isn’t just building a business – they’re reimagining how an entire industry operates.