Why can DG TAKANO, a downtown rocket in Higashi-Osaka, hire talented people from Japan and overseas?

Starting with the DNA of a town factory in Higashi-Osaka, DG TAKANO now has offices in Silicon Valley and is expanding its business around the world. One of the company's hallmarks is its employees. As the shortage of human resources becomes more serious, half of the company's employees are foreigners, and the domestic human resources are all excellent human resources, such as those who graduated from the University of Tokyo. We interviewed CEO Masaaki Takano about the company's human resources strategy.

Helping solve global water shortages with water-saving nozzle "Bubble90"

Born to parents who run a small factory in Higashi-Osaka, Mr. Takano got a job at an IT company after graduating from university. During his tenure, he realized the importance of saving water in the face of global water shortages and developed a technology to save water. “There is an abundance of water in Japan, so you may not realize it, but water shortages overseas are serious,” he says.

The Google Home design team agreed with the technology developed by Mr. Takano for its ability to save the world, and developed a universal design faucet. The faucet has a built-in water-saving nozzle "Bubble 90". The product boasts a water saving rate of up to 95%.

“We cannot create water, but we can help conserve water. Water shortages are a problem that can be solved with the power of ventures. We are a company that targets customers,” says Takano.

Since Bubble90 has been featured in overseas media as an excellent product, it naturally attracts excellent overseas talent. In recent years, there has been a growing tendency among Japanese companies to emphasize diversity, but I wonder if there is any friction when people from different countries work together.

Mr. Takano said, “Japanese companies try to make foreigners follow their own way. There is culture. DG TAKANO is a 'global company.' We respect the good points of each country's unique culture."

Tech Japan to help recruit Indian students

DG TAKANO has recruited foreigners by not only selecting those who applied voluntarily, but also making offers to highly-skilled foreign workers living in Japan. However, there is a limit to the number of human resources that can be reached with this alone. Therefore, Mr. Takano used Tech Japan's service.

Tech Japan collaborates with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) to provide a digital platform "Tech Japan Hub" that helps Japanese companies acquire high-skilled students enrolled in IIT and IIM. . When Japanese companies enter company information and intern recruitment information on the "Tech Japan Hub", the contents will be shared with all partner universities and enrolled students. Students who are interested in registered companies can apply from the "Tech Japan Hub".

Tech Japan conducted a demonstration experiment from March to July 2021 prior to the full-scale introduction of "Tech Japan Hub", and DG TAKANO also participated in it. At that time, there were 500 applicants from IIT. According to Naotaka Nishiyama, CEO of Tech Japan, top schools such as the Indian Institute of Technology have introduced their own recruitment rules, and companies with high name recognition and offer amounts are prioritized for interview schedules. It is said that it is a scheme to be assigned. For this reason, when Japanese companies want to hire students from India's top schools, they have to compete with GAFA's global major companies for interview schedules, but it is difficult to win the competition.

Under such circumstances, DG TAKANO participated in the interview schedule on Day 1, which is an early schedule, and said, "It was very popular with the students, and we were able to overcome quite a difficult situation" (Mr. Nishiyama). As a result of interviews, 5 Indian students underwent internships in Japan, and 1 student was eventually hired. When I asked Mr. Takano what made him decide to hire him, he said, "All the students were excellent, but the one I hired had excellent communication skills."

Regarding the recruitment of Indian students, Mr. Takano said, "It was difficult to contact Indian universities, and the possibility of finding them individually was low. He made it," he says.

Chosen because you can do what you want

I mentioned earlier that DG TAKANO is different from ordinary Japanese companies, but the company still has its strengths. Aleksandar Naydenov, who graduated from the University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and works at the company, explained why he joined the company.

"When I was looking for a job, I was considering another company in Europe, but I was attracted to DG TAKANO's business dynamics and speed. I can do what I want right away."

Mr. Takano said that the usual career path for talented Indian students was to get an engineering job in the United States, but now that India's economy has grown, they want to achieve what they want, not just money. An increasing number of Indian engineers think so.

DG TAKANO has formed alliances with factories with specialized technology. As a design company, the company combines the technologies of each factory to create new products.

Mr. Takano says. “Think about the iPhone. The iPhone is made up of a combination of general-purpose parts, and it is not new. We design like Apple. We use technology to create new products.If you just cut metal, other factories can do it.However, at DG TAKANO, you can make what you want.”

At DG TAKANO, it is precisely because we can take on challenges that other companies cannot do that we are able to attract talented people from around the world. While creating an environment that makes it easy for people from various countries to work, it also provides an environment where workers can work with a sense of purpose.

Mr. Takano also said, "When hiring foreigners, it is important to be able to support their lives and what kind of future we can show them." Now that competition for human resources is taking place, I think this is important for all companies so that they can be selected from excellent human resources.