Metamorphisis

By

Praveen Kumar. S
Lecturer
Department of Management Studies
Panimalar Engineering College
Chennai
 

"If you think are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't! If you want to win, but you think you can't it's almost a cinch you won't.  If you think you will lose, you're lost, for out in the world, we find success begins with the fellow's will; it's all in the state of the mind. Life's battles don't always go to the stronger and faster man but sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can."
                                                                                                                      - Walter D Wintle.

Common sense is not common sense to all:

There is an old tale of two friends who met on the street after not seeing each other for twenty five years. One, who had graduated at the top of his class, was now working as an assistant branch manager of the local bank. The other, who had never overwhelmed any one with his intellect, owned his company and was now a millionaire several times over. When his banking friend asked him the secret of his success he said it was really quite simple, "I have this one product that I buy for two dollars and sell for 5 dollars," he said,"it's amazing how much you can make on a 3 percent mark up".¹

All maverick entrepreneurs built their emperor on gut feeling rather than following the classical pattern taught in business schools. Harvard Business School's web site defines entrepreneurship, as a way of managing opportunities overtime.

The Pregnant Mind:

In the early 50's officials in the treasury of Arabian kingdom of Yemen found the main unit of their currency, solid silver coins called the Rial, disappearing from circulation. They were all going to Aden, where a mere clerk in a British Trading Company had put an open order for all of them. He had realized that selling them after melting them down was more valuable than the value of Rial. He made some money before it was officially stopped. This money added to the money he had already saved, helped him start of as a trader in polyester yarn. He was Dhirubai Ambani, who became the most powerful business tycoon in India, all these in one generation because he had been innovative as well as passionate about his dreams.²

To us, a poet in history is divine but, the poet in the next room is a joke. An opportunity to peer into the lives of successful local entrepreneurs will make ivory tower theories rethink the business basics. Let's herald to the world, the success story of our entrepreneurs.

The Bottom Of The Pyramid - The Sachet Revolution.

Every journey begins with the first step. The journey called CavinKare began with a young mind which took the road less taken. In 1983 with a single product offering CavinKare started out as a small partnership firm. Velvet shampoo was the brainchild of Chinny Krishnan. After his sudden death his son C.K.Ranganathan was forced to continue his father's business, because there was a two lakh debt in the bank. The sachet revolution through "Chick" made all the difference. More steps followed and with the innovative entrepreneur C.K.Ranganathan at the helm, CavinKare emerged out to be a successful business enterprise.³

Gold Winner

Munusamy a first generation entrepreneur, entered business with a humble general grocery store in the 1970's before setting up an edible oil store. Shortly after he set up the oil store, he moved on to trade edible oil. A little over 10 years ago, he was a bulk trader in edible oils before he acquired an ailing sick refinery and turned around its fortunes. By the early 90's he was trading approximately 50,000 tons of edible oil per year. ORG-MARG survey has rated gold winner, his enterprise as the numero uno in the FMCG (Edible oils) category in South India.⁴

The Rebel

Ponnudurai dropped out from school after tenth standard and joined a departmental store. Soon through credit he garnered the required financial resources and started his own grocery store which reeled under heavy loss. "Sabeena" a dish wash powder wanted to market their product, he hungrily grabbed the opportunity. Simultaneously, he cleared an interview, and was placed the in the collector's office as a junior clerk. He tirelessly continued to market Sabeena and some dates in the evenings. The idea of removing seeds from the dates struck him and so he started to sell seedless dates. The inspiration for the brand name and picture was from a kinder garden text book, and thus "Lion" dates was christened. Calculating the opportunity cost, he quit his clerical job and carved a niche for himself in manufacturing and marketing dates. Today the length of the "Lion" brand width trumpets the success story.

Subvert the Paradigm -  Annachi

P.Rajagopal was born in a small hamlet, unavailable even  to a microscopic search on the map of Tirunelveli district named Punnaiyadi. His father a farmer and a wholesale dealer of onions was able to provide him the basic needs of a village life only. In his early teens he had to move away from home and fend for himself. At the age of 13 he got the job of a cleaner in a small hotel in a village and the work was backbreaking. His day began at 5 am in the morning and continued till late in the night.

He moved to Chennai in 1961 and after 7 years started on a provision store in K.K. Nagar. Even then it was his commitment to hard work and quality that had helped him make this a successful venture after many years of struggle and initial losses. A chance remark by some sales representatives on the quality of hotels in Chennai, prompted him to open the K.K. Nagar branch in Chennai, the first of Hotel Sarvana Bhavan chain in 1981. His entrepreneurial spirit and belief in quality and firmness to deliver only quality food is what has made HSB the most talked about success story of Chennai. The footfall in all the 33 outlets is over 1,00,000 everyday.⁵

Gladiator

Since Murugan was subject to abject poverty as a young boy, he could not study. His father had a small idly shop to the family. At 24, since Murugan lost his parents he looked after the small idly shop. Gradually business prospered and his savings in the post office increased. At 26, he married Sujatha a house maid. He migrated to Chennai, and started a road side kiosk. Gradually business prospered and his savings in the Indian Bank increased. Murugan Idly Shop which started with 3 table boys now has 3 branches in Chennai.

God of small things

The Son of a grocery shop owner Duraisamy, ventured into turmeric powder business. He was then married to an hotelier's daughter-Shanthi. She realized that masala grinding as a preparation was a difficult task to the Indian house wife. She decided to prepare masala for them. Thus after the initial birth pangs, Shakthi Masala was born. He packed them into small sachets and sold them aggressively in local shops. Around 850 employees revolve around it for their livelihood today.

DNA

VGP secured a job as an assistant in a grocery shop for a pittance of Rs 3/- a month. By hard work, with head and heart, he soon established his own teashop. Not content with just that and bolstered with the arrival of his younger brothers,  VGP tried new avenues of trade, like crosswords, calendar agency, newspaper vending… to what seemed final then, the business of consumer durables. He pioneered the idea of "Buy now. Pay later" which is such a rage today. He zoomed to greater heights selling housing plots, building townships, beach resorts, operating a chain of ultra modern departmental stores, setting up video supplicating plant, travel & tourism etc. Today VGP is a household name.⁶

End Point

Jill Belasco, entrepreneur & founder of Latitudes International set aside worries of bankruptcy and failure to set up successful business. Her tips for making a business are:

* Be brave. "Don't be afraid to take risks or be the first to try something. Don't be afraid to say no or yes"
* Be committed to excellence.
* Be flexible. "[ This includes ] watching trends, changing what you do, trying new ideas. Also, be flexible with your customers- give them anything you can. Ane be as flexible as you can with your business".
* Be involved. "If you are an entrepreneur, you need to be involved in every step of the way, from the customer to the product or the service"
* Be a family, "Hire smart. Hire people you'd want [to be around] since you're going to spend so much time with them".⁷

Reference:

1. Mc Cormick, Mark What they don't teach you at Harvard business school, USA, A Bantam Book, 1995.

2. Chaudhuri, Arindam Count your chicken before they hatch, New Delhi, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., 2001

3. www.cavinkare.com

4. www.promosnew.sify.com/prideoftnchaudhuri

5. www.saravanbhavan.com/founder.htm

6. www.tourtravelworld.com

7. www.entrepreneur.com
 

Praveen Kumar. S
Lecturer
Department of Management Studies
Panimalar Engineering College
Chennai
 

Source: E-mail November 2, 2007

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