Book Review: Peter Church,Profiles in Enterprise: Inspiring Stories of Indian Business Leaders

Profiles in Enterprise is an inspiring book on the life stories of 23 Indian business leaders. It is a candid discussion of how each leader has added values to their business and towards making India the third largest country by purchasing power parity (PPP). Highly informative and full of anecdotes, the personal journeys and experience sharing teach budding young leaders and entrepreneurs the grit and the determination to never give up because, ‘success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm’—Winston Churchill.

The author, Peter Church, OAM, BCom (UNSW), LLB (Sydney) and LLM (London), is a lawyer and corporate adviser by profession and has spent more than 30 years living and working in the Southeast Asian and Indian regions. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1994 for his services to the promotion of business relations between Australia and the Southeast Asian regions. He has written a number of other books on the Asian region, including Added Value—The Life Stories of Leading South East Asian Business People (Murmeli, 1999), A Short History of South East Asia (John Wiley, 2009) and Added Value—The Life Stories of Indian Business Leaders (Roli, 2010).

Peter Church explains how the business leaders were chosen. He sought guidance from his Indian friends and Australia’s and India’s diplomatic and trade missions to provide him with a list of highly successful Indian entrepreneurs. The list of 23 business leaders is the result of the successful interviews. Timing could well be a matter of luck both for the author in getting an appointment and for the entrepreneur in getting the business right.

One such entrepreneur to start with is Shri R.S. Agarwal, Founder and Chairman of Emami Limited, one of India’s leading personal and health care business. The group was established in 1974 and makes more than 300 products based on Ayurveda formulations and has a turnover of some US$ 300 million in 2012. Shri R.S. Agarwal beams with pride in telling that by 1978 and 1984, they had taken over Himani and Boroplus, respectively. Both are a common household name today. He believes that too much structuring of any relationship can destroy the quality of friendship. Therefore, there flourished an excellent relationship between Shri R.S. Agarwal and Shri R.S. Goenka, co-founder of Emami Ltd. A very sharp business man that he is, R.S. Agarwal finds clarity where many, including big brands, would be confused. The best takeaway from his discussion is we all need to be cognizant and prepared that around the corner, there may be an unknowable event that changes everything.

Shri Subroto Bagchi, founder chairman of Mindtree, a global information technology solutions with annual revenues of over US$ 435 million, begins the interview with an opening statement, ‘India constantly surprises me’. Bagchi explains, in his book Go Kiss the World, the importance of ambition and achievement. Achievement is only as good as the value it creates for others. His discussion is very pertinent for young leaders and budding mangers. Most people we meet do not have a specific reason to remember us, so in every situation one has to be razor sharp to create instant engagement. The whole world is looking for memorability. Mr Bagchi calls himself the Gardner. It is in this role that his task to create leadership capacity is well justified by a beautiful anecdote; he uses to explain relative balance of power. A sapling does not fight the rock; it gently circumvents the rock and keeps growing along its side. This sapling one day becomes a huge tree, but the rock remains at the foot of the tree forever. Mindtree a listed company is making the transition from a culture-led company to an expertise-led but culture-backed company.

After two very successful business leaders, one in Kolkata and another in Bengaluru, the author meets an academician, Professor Bala V. Balachandran, founder of Great Lakes Institute of Management. The basis of Professor Bala’s motto in life is either be distinct or be extinct. Professor Bala acknowledges the contribution of his mentors in building his career. Professor Landis Gephart from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, who worked for the US Strategic Air Command, was the main reason behind his Masters in Engineering, from the University of Dayton. Meeting Professor Gerald L. Thompson, who was Professor of Systems and Operations Research, was his next turning point. It was under his guidance that Professor Bala’s PhD thesis on Operations Research was awarded the top global prize in 1973. He was the first from Carnegie Mellon to win this award. The third major influence in his life is Professor Donald Jacobs, who was the Dean of Kellogg’s Business School for more than 25 years. Professor Don and Professor Bala dreamt of taking Kellogg’s to number one. It was ranked number seven in 1973 but with perseverance and grit; from 1988 to 1994, Harvard, Stanford and everybody were chasing Kellogg’s School of Management. Professor Bala was very critical, as to why the amazing talent in India remains silent over corruption and violation of dignity, but he reassures that the change has begun.

‘I believe we are sensitive when it comes to trying to provide a conducive work place for women’, these were the statement of Ms Shobhana Bhartia, chairperson and editorial director of HT Media. Ms Bhartia is the granddaughter of G.D. Birla and the daughter of K.K. Birla. HT was established in 1924 by the Akali family who were Sikhs from Punjab. Shobhana joined HT in 1985 when she was 21. The Birla family was not just involved in business and politics; they had a strong commitment and interest in being of wider benefit to the society. Ms Bhartia became an Executive Director in 1989, vice-chairperson in the late 1990s and chairperson after her father passed away. Her role in transforming her passion into a business made HT Media dual listed, in Bombay and New York Stock Exchange. HT Media owns Hindustan Times, Hindustan (a leading Hindi language daily), magazines and frequency modulation (FM) radio stations.

Moving from a woman business leader to another woman founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) of India, we find Ms Ela Bhatt, a leader in many senses of the word and her impact in assisting poor or disadvantaged women to become organized as small-scale entrepreneur has been monumental. In 1955, shortly before her marriage to Ramesh Bhatt, she joined the legal department of the Textile Labour Association (TLA), the textile workers union that was started by Anasuyaben Sarabhai in 1920 and then supported by Mahatma Gandhi. She continued to work until 1981, when she was asked to quit—a syndrome rather very common in corporate houses. Ms Ela Bhatt started SEWA out of nothing. She began to see the needs of the women in the context of labour movement. There were problems between the formal and informal workers and between marginal and the main stream workers. SEWA members grew from 500 to over 1 million. Taking SEWA out from the TLA headquarters helped in setting up large numbers of production cooperatives and building women’s network that crossed all geographical, political and ideological boundaries. These poor women managed technology and an annual turnover of crores of rupees and entered the global market. People with jobs retire from work, but Ms Ela Bhatt has a passion not a job, she continues for lifetime.

The need and belief to succeed made Mr Ajay Bijli, chairman of PVR, the first to invest in a Dolby sound system. PVR Ltd pioneered the multiplex cinema business in India. In late 2012, PVR acquired a majority stake in Cinemax India and has catapulted the group to being India’s largest cinema business. Mr Ajay Bijli joined ATC (Amritsar Truck Company) in 1988. By 1990, Mr Bijli was able to live his aspirations by getting involved in the single cinema screen business owned by ATC, which is the beginning of the PVR story. The anecdote shared by him tells us the condition in India, before 1991. PVR cinemas could buy whatever they wanted; starting from Dolby sounds to better seats but the ceiling on the tickets’ price was ₹ 12. Delhi at that time had 62 cinema halls all playing Hindi movies. He dared to introduce Hollywood movies and negotiated with Warner Brothers, Columbia Tri-Star, Sony and MGM. The first movie was Tango & Cash, the response was great—an excellent learning to understand venture capital in entertainment industry. ICICI Venture headed by Renuka Ramanth initially injected ₹ 40 crores and decided to exit when the financials were good. Later J.P. Morgan also invested US$ 15 million. PVR invested in four movies and all bombed. That was the time they decided to close down movie business and continue with PVR Priya, the top grossing cinemas in the country. Mr Bijli feels business is all about reputation.

In his interview, Shri Anand Burman, chairman of Dabur, unveils the origin of the name Dabur. Da’ is the Hindi version of doctor (Dr) and Bur is an abbreviation of Burman. Although Dabur was there both pre and post License Raj, it was from 1980s onwards that business really exploded. Another important thing that happened was the pharmaceutical division of Dabur. In 1994, Dabur India became public and had 22 per cent of the shareholding. Dabur is the fourth largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company in India with a market capitalization of over US$ 5 billion. It is the philosophy of Dabur that when somebody invests with them, they will always leave something on the table for the partner. Undoubtedly, pro-social behaviour is the strong work ethic of Dabur.

Shri Ramesh Chauhan, chairman and managing director (CMD), Bisleri, started with Parle Products and ended up creating Bisleri, one of the leading branded bottled waters in India. Biscuit business in India was different; everybody had a different concept. The Chauhans had their own brands of carbonated soft drinks, such as, Gold Spot, Limca and Thums Up. An uncanny art of observation of Ramesh Chauhan is the streak of entrepreneurs. While erecting the Dubai factory, he noticed lots of tin cans of mango juices and thus Maaza was born. However, the soft drinks brands were sold to Coca-Cola in 1993. Since the split with his brother in 1991, Shri Chauhan has successfully concentrated on building up the Bisleri Brand. To end on a lighter note, he believes that the thickness of a company’s files on the chief executive officer’s (CEO) table is inversely proportional to the sales.

Peter Church brilliantly brings about the entrepreneurial streaks and the Parsi principles of good thoughts, good words and good deeds in Shri Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group. Godrej Group was established in 1897, its founder Ardeshir Godrej was a strong visionary. His inventions, manufactured by his brother Pirojsha Godrej, were the foundation of today’s Godrej industries, which has seven major companies with interests in real estate, FMCG, industrial engineering, appliances, furniture, security and agri care. The group’s turnover was over US$ 4 billion as in March 2013. Until 1991, India had been in the grips of the socialist ‘License Raj’, there were price controls and Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practice (MRTP) Act that seriously affected the real value of what India could build. However, by 1992, Godrej Group formed joint venture with Proctor & Gamble, bought over Transelektra Domestic Products and had a deal with Sara Lee in 1995. The shares of Godrej soaps were sold to Godrej & Boyce. Shri Adi Godrej has tremendous faith in the younger generation and believes that they would create much better opportunities in India.

Shri Sanjiv Goenka, SG as he is fondly called, resonates success, like many of the business leaders in the book Profiles in Enterprise. The responsibility and accountability of Shri Sanjiv Goenka is pretty high, in creating an asset base of over US$ 4.3 billion for the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, more than 50,000 employees, more than 100,000 shareholders and annual revenue over US$ 2.6 billion. The group’s business spans across six sectors: power and natural resources, carbon black, retail, media and entertainment, IT and education. The acquisition of the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) was a decision that he took independently and relieved the Calcuttans from the 12 hours of power cuts every day. It has been an electrifying accomplishment since 1989, both for SG and the power-starved industry in Bengal. The Late Shri Rama Prasad Goenka, father of Shri Sanjiv Goenka, is known as the takeover king. The senior Goenka taught SG to be very humble and caring. Humility should apply when one meets a famous person, an important visitor and one’s staff at home. Shri Sanjiv Goenka fondly remembers and cherishes the close relationship he had with his father, until the Senior Goenka passed away in 2013. Shri Sanjiv Goenka is undoubtedly a business leader, who distinctly understands business and is highly adaptable. Success seems to be in the DNA of the Goenka family.

Shri Bhavarlal H. Jain is the founder and Chairman of Jain Irrigation systems believes that in business even if you are an average person, if you are honest, if you are willing to work hard and if you are sincere towards your objective, you will succeed. Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd derives its name from the pioneering work it did for micro-irrigation industry in India. The company has a multi-product industrial profile and is also into bio-energy sources. Shri B.H. Jain comes across as a people’s person. He strongly believes that to be successful in business it is important to recruit and retain right talent. By right talent, he does not mean brilliance alone; he also means compassion and integrity. Entrepreneurship according to him is to think differently and making a difference to the life of others.

Shri B.K. Jhawar Chairman Emeritus, Usha Martin, echoes the philosophy of the present-day corporate social responsibility (CSR). He says charity only destroys dignity and independence. Teaching someone how to fish and to market the fish is more important than giving a fish to eat. In other words, he means, sustainable projects. An anecdote of B.K. Jhawar explains how an entrepreneur sees opportunities in a challenge. The suppliers of spring seats for Hindustan Motors were on strike, the young Jhawar sensed an opportunity to set up a tent under a tree and got started with Usha Automobile and Engineering Ltd. Shri Jhawar went abroad looking for collaboration when business was not doing great. He approached Martin Black and after many deliberations, negotiation and discussions Usha Martin was formed. Business environment was not conducive at all in India before 1991, but he connected wire by wire until Usha Martin became the largest steel rope producer in India and second largest globally. Today Usha Martin Corporation is a US$ 1 billion company.

For all business leaders, we study here, not only clear thinking and passion are in abundance but also the promise to deliver is very high. Shri Naveen Jindal, Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. (JSPL), is responsible for one of the India’s major steel productions, with an annual turnover of over US$ 3.6 billion. JSPL is a part of the US$ 18 billion diversified O.P. Jindal Group. Mr Naveen Jindal always draws inspiration from what his father used to say, ‘you should stand up for what you believe in’. All through his interview by Peter Church, he has demonstrated this trait many times. A wonderful takeaway for young leaders is, challenge is in finding the right balance between the many things one can do and the fewer things one can do better.

Shri B.M. Khaitan, Chairman, Williamson Magor says he never changed his value systems of kindness, honesty and integrity. Williamson Magor is one of the world’s largest tea producers with plantations and operations in India, Vietnam and Uganda. Shri B.M. Khaitan started working with his father in 1947, despite his Western viewpoint, he followed Indian custom and tradition. In 1974, B.M. Kahitan merged Williamson Magor with Lord Inchcape’s Macneill and Barry Ltd to form Macneil & Magor Ltd. After the merger with Inchcape, the circle of business grew but the tea business was carried under his leadership. A very fulfilling feeling and proud moment for Shri B.M. Khaitan, when he says no banker or financial institution can say a bad word about its financial obligation. Integrity and honesty is paramount. There can be a few people and leaders, such as, Shri B.M. Khaitan, beaming with positivity and contention.

Shri Sanjay Lalbhai, Chairman and Managing Director, Arvind Ltd, takes pride in saying all his businesses are professionally managed. The best takeaway from his interview with Peter Church is how during 1920s and 1930s his grandfather extended 1 million to 4 million and kept the girls of the family too involved in business, something very unusual in those days. Another anecdote could be a greater learning for all, the idea to keep meetings to the point and brief. He believes in not wasting collective time and to keep someone waiting is the biggest arrogance. He joined Arvind Ltd in 1979 and created Arvind brands. In the premium segment, Arvind was licensed for Gant, Tommy Hilfiger, Energie, Arrow, US Polo and Izod. Arvind also has its own value retailing chain Mega Mart in 2007 and Arvind Stores in 2010. Arvind has grown from US$ 15 million per year to US$ 1 billion per year.

Mahindra & Mahindra has a leadership position in many sectors including utility vehicles, information technology, tractors and vacation ownership. The group turns over US$ 16 billion with its headquarters in Mumbai with a work force of more than 180,000 people across 100 countries. The passion for creating value for India is seen in the interview of Shri Keshub Mahindra, Chairman Emeritus, Mahindra & Mahindra. It is a completely professionally managed company with just two family members in the 180,000 resource pool. This has kept family infighting at bay. The Chairman admires the American approach to philanthropy. Mahindra & Mahindra has a large philanthropic foundation which concentrates on education, mainly educating about 80,000 girls all over the country. How true to the spirit of creating value for India!

Ms Sunita Narain the fearless social entrepreneur is the Director General, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). CSE is a public interest research and advocacy organization based in New Delhi. Ms Narain thinks the biggest concern for India is how to have growth in a way that does not destroy the likelihood and resources of very poor people. She adds her concern for the environment began in her life with the Chipko Movement. Talking about the climate change conference, she says it cannot be tackled without equity and justice. The Western world cannot tell the developing countries to bring down carbon emission, when they themselves created the problem.

Peter Church the author describes Shri Sanjay Nayak to be very appealing. When he talks about anything, there is incredible passion in his voice interspersed with laughter. Shri Nayak is CEO & MD of Tejas Networks, a leading provider of end-to-end optical transport solutions to telecom service providers. Tejas customers include telecom carriers offering telephony, mobile services enterprises connectivity and Internet service provider (ISP) services. He started Tejas Networks with a simple motto, if someone in the world can do something, so can we. It was in 2000 that Tejas Network started, after a simple deal with Desh and Sycamore. Tejas was formed and 50 per cent of the shares were sold to Desh & Sycamore. Telecom Industry is a US$ 300 billion industry and had better opportunity to excel, so he chose this sector. However, India has focussed on information and communications technology (ICT) services and missed the product opportunity. India neither did low-cost manufacturing, such as, China, Vietnam and Thailand, neither did high-end stuff that happens in CISCO and Apple. For Shri Nayak, success is a combination of intellect, passion and the preparedness for hard work.

Shri Harshvardhan Neotia or Harsh Neotia is universally known as the Chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group. Ambuja Neotia group is one of the most respected corporate houses headquartered in Kolkata. It has developed residency housing, townships, malls and business parks in the city of Kolkata. It has also expanded into hospitality, health care and education. Shri harsh Neotia started working in the Neotia family business RKBK (Radha Krishna Bimal Kumar). He points out that Ambuja Cements Ltd as the most notable industrial success of the family. By 2006, Ambuja Cements was probably India’s largest cement producer. When Holcim bought the cement business, they made it a condition of the sale that they did not want any non-cement business. Thus, he bought over the real estate, hospitality and others to form Ambuja Realty in 2006. In 2008, the Neotia Institute of Technology Management & Science, a not-for-profit venture started. Much before that in 2002, the group had invested in health care by starting Bhagirathi Neotia Woman and Child Care Centre. Ffort Raichak was the first real initiative into hospitality in 1997 and Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista, is the first time in India a hotel incorporated into a mall. Shri Neotia concludes by saying he has an obligation to succeed.

The Piramal Group is a diversified conglomerate with operations in more than 30 countries and brand presence across 100 markets around the world. The family business was initially in textile and it went on to become a conglomerate, rather a household pharmaceutical name. The Nicholas deal was finalized in 1988, and in 1991 the name changed to Nicholas Piramal. From being rank 48 in the Pharma Sector in 1988, they rose to number three in 2010. In 2010, Nicholas Piramal was sold to Abbott of the US for US$ 3.7 billion. Mr Ajay Piramal, Chairman Piramal Group, says it did not make sense to stay as owners if they could not grow beyond 20 per cent. Shri Piramal holds the Gita as one of the greatest management books. Underneath this practical, unemotional business leader, there is a highly spiritual side.

The entrepreneurial spirit bubbles to the surface and gives a new direction always to Ronnie Screwala. The same happened during his interview with Peter Church. Ronnie used to do theatre at school and college and went on to host game and quiz shows for Doordarshan. For an entrepreneur, it is all about passion he went door to door, building-to-building, selling the concept of cable TV. Then, they started to cable up hotels, such as, the Oberoi, Taj and ITC chains. However, his DNA was to reinvest and UTV Software Communication started in 1990 and the buyer was only Doordarshan and Zee. Before the initial public offering (IPO) in 2005, 100 per cent of the UTV Business was B to B, however, after that they became B to C. They also had a kids Channel called, ‘Hungama TV’, in 2004 and this led to Disney’s interest in them. The investment by Disney was a necessary point as Media business was always undercapitalized and required financial muscle and he agreed to run the Walt Disney Company for five years.

This book on Profiles in Enterprise has one central theme, it is about adding value. That is exactly what Venu Srinivasan, Chairman of TVS Motor Company, does. Shri Venu Srinivasan was brought up with three most important virtues: punctuality, cleanliness and trust. He mentions how his grandfather was particular that every TVS bus ran on time. The best takeaway is, it is very important to be early by a minute than late by two minutes. The TVS Group is India’s leading supplier of automatic components, with a combined turnover of over US$ 6.5 billion. The TVS group’s total workforce is close to more than 39,000 employees. Charting a steady growth path of expansion and diversification, TVS Group also runs, ‘Srinivasan Services Trust’, for the past 20 years, a foundation in his father’s name. Through a large micro-enterprise movement run by more than 60,000 women, the trust has been able to transform villages into societies that are empowered and have sustainable and self-reliant communities. What more could be called as value creation?

The last leader for the interview by author Peter Church and his colleague, Matt Gorman, was Shri Arunachalam Vellayam, Executive Chairman, Murugappa Group. Murugappa is one of the India’s leading conglomerates and is headquartered in Chennai. The group currently turns over annually around US$ 4 billion. He reminisces how the group had collaboration with Tube Investment in 1949, so had TI Cycles Ltd. Tube Products of India Ltd was with another UK Company in 1955 and TI Diamond Chains Ltd was with the American Diamond Chain Company in 1960. They wanted to grow by a particular growth rate and knew it would not happen otherwise, so EID Parry was acquired in 1981. EID Parry had a small fertilizer business and a reasonable sized sugar business. Then, in 1999, EID Parry bought IMC, so that they have the majority shareholder in Coromandel Fertilizers of Hyderabad. In 2003, the group under his leadership bought over a government company called Godavari and became a large player. Shri Arunachalam looks forward to enjoy doing business till he turns 65 in 2018. Though the group is hugely privileged because of high entry barrier created by its business size, he himself remains very grounded and unpretentious, a unique feature of good business leaders.

Writing this book review made me think that it is incomplete if the readers cannot read the entire biography sharing complete details about each leader. The life stories in the book, Profiles in Enterprise, are the result of Peter Church’s interview with the subjects over a period of three years. Any change in the statistics or data is due to the continuous changing business environment. The opinion and remarks mentioned here are based on Profiles in Enterprise: Inspiring Stories of Indian Business Leaders, a must read for all.