The Exchanges

Q You, you, you came from a very humble background, uh, a business, traditional business family, and now you have built an institution, which will, you know, surpass you. It has built a legacy. So first, thank you so much, sir. And would love to start, you know, by knowing before Mariko, what were you doing your family background?

A Okay. So thank you. Thank you Siddharth for inviting me to your podcast. And I'm very happy that first time for me, and I believe your, uh, your platform is doing very well. So congratulations and all the best. Let me start off by talking about myself. I'm, I'm just a commerce graduate. I finished my college from Bombay and Sydenham. And at the age of 20, I joined the family business, which comprised of my father and three of my uncles. And the office was located in the heart of commodity markets in Majid Bandar. And there were no professionals. It was a typically family managed organization. And we were all staying in one same house in, uh, at Haji Ali. And so it was a large joint family where, uh, my father, um, three of my uncles, my grandfather, and then all the children. So it was like a huge joint family. And we used to discuss a lot of I mean, the business used to get discussed at home a lot also. So that was really my, shall I say, initiation into business because, you know, when the business topics gets discussed and when you're present, then you, at least here, you may not, uh, you may not be able to add value, but the fact that the business is being discussed at home, uh, I think that's how I started getting some good understanding of business. And I was thrown into the company by my father without any guidance. And, uh, without any direction. So I started exploring,…

AI assessment note: “I finished my college from Bombay and Sydenham. And at the age of 20, I joined the family business”

Q And sir, what, what were the first seeds? If you remember that made parachute and the household names that they are current today, which is evolved over from a zero percent market share in parachute.

A We became a market leader, you know, And, um, the first phase was our quality was very good. I must say, you know, and that is something which I must credit my family that they were producing very good coconut oil. So that acted as some sort of cutting edge in the marketplace as far as the competition is concerned. So the first set of, uh, you may call it success or first success of first taste of success happened because of distribution network and because of good quality. And then we did all that, but again, you are stuck at a certain market share. At that time we realized that if If we innovate, we'll be able to increase our market share. And that's how we converted the whole market from tin to plastics, because tin is expensive, much more expensive than plastics. It's, uh, much, uh, plastic is more convenient to use. It's more attractive than tins. So, but we went through use learning curve in launching. So that plastics launch over a period of five or seven years, just increase our market share from 15% to 50%, you know. So, and I think that played a very, very important role. And we were, because we were making extra money compared to the other competitors who were packing in tin, you are reinvesting in marketing, you know, and I think that led to us becoming a market leader.

AI assessment note: “first taste of success happened because of distribution network and because of good quality”

Q And so over a period of time, you have, you know, increase your philanthropic activities, both as an individual and an organization. And you always stress on the need to give back. Can you? Share more philosophy of yours on that.

A So we call it, you know, the company side is known as CSR, which is commonly known. Which is corporate social responsibility, which comprise of three different legs of, uh, initiatives we take. One is the Mariko Innovation Foundation with the objective is to fuel innovation within India by doing a variety of initiatives, whether it's innovation awards, innovative books, uh, innovation courses, helping innovative organizations scale up, I mean, hackathons and things like that. So there is that part, which reports to me, still reports to me. Then there is agriculture part, you know, we buy a lot of corporate and we have the extension wing. And the whole objective is to improve farmers' productivity. And that gets done mainly in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Kannada. And it's growing extremely well. We've been able to, by just better cropping practices, the farmer productivity has increased by 15%. And if you convert that into rupees and annualized farmers in, in these states are earning 200 crores extra every year because of the health we've given them. We also buy directly from them earlier. They were supplying to traders. So a whole host of initiatives in, in improving agri productivity is another one. And third one is an education. Some of our brand support, um, education. So we, we look at girl child. We also have a podcast to, to make culture learn and not only …

AI assessment note: “the company side is known as CSR... apart from corporate at a personal level”

Q And sir, have you been, uh, actively involved in the Indian startup ecosystem?

A Uh, so no, my, we have our investment offices, my son runs, and, um, I think anyone wants, and I get a lot of requests from individuals need not be startup. It could be some, um, Somebody who's at a much more mature stage for mentoring. So, and I like mentoring, uh, entrepreneurs, even RSL members also many times. So on average, I have one or two mentoring sessions every month, uh, depending on what is the challenge. But, uh, beyond that, I am, I mean, I know people from, uh, Indian angels and, you know, uh, which is the other one I forget, but I think I've, I've spoken at many events like that, but otherwise I'm not actively involved in the startup system.

AI assessment note: “so no, my, we have our investment offices... otherwise I'm not actively involved”

Q So from 19 years of, you know, operating in the traditional family business, what are the things that you learned that you brought into Mariko?

A So a lot, I not only looked at the consumer products, but in different times in that 19 year, I was looking at the chemical side also, some part of spice extracts also. So I think how to run a business is the largest learning. And how do you, uh, because I built up the whole organization professionally. So how do you build a culture? How do you recruit professionals? Uh, at that time I didn't have any other, uh, functional knowledge. So my initial years were spent a lot in terms of improving my functional knowledge, whether it's marketing or distribution or product development. Or manufacturing or quality assurance, all the functions, you know, or so I think all that happened through a network of individual consultants, and then over a period of time, we were able to recruit some good talent, you know. So I learned a lot from our own team of professionals, you know. So I think it was a very good ground for me in terms of learning. And in that phase also, I developed a leadership style, which still goes on till today. And that got converted. And then I converted those leadership issues and values in Mariko in building a Mariko culture, which was based on my earlier learnings in Bombay oil, which was more to do with openness, participation, trust building, innovation. So I think all those things I learned, uh, in the first 19 years.

AI assessment note: “I converted those leadership issues and values in Mariko in building a Mariko culture”

Q So the mentors, as a mentor, the entrepreneurs you guide and advice, right? What are the basic principles that you learned that you tell them and what are the things that have changed that, that you said, you know, you have to evolve over what I learned over the last 20 years.

A So I go back to then the same thing, which I talked about earlier, you know, create a right to, that's a highly competitive environment. And if you are a me to product, then you're able to succeed in the marketplaces is not there. And then right to win will differ depending on the kind of business you are in. If you are in service oriented business service, the kind of service you are providing unique service, it could be, or if you're in a technology business, the patent you have in a pharma business will Will act as an edge for you to succeed, but you have to be differentiated, or you can pioneer a segment which others have not been there. For example, vaccines, you know, Bharat Biotech or Kadila, they have come out with their own set of vaccines and they pioneered it. So I think the key thing is to identify, do you have a right to win? And how strong is your right to win? And you have to maintain that right to win on a perpetual basis because others will copy, you know. And then back it up with very good talent and culture and then governance. And I, I go on this three principles of right to win, creating a differentiation, talent, culture, and governance play a very important role in, uh, in any entrepreneurial journey. And most importantly, the role of entrepreneur, which again, I talked about that the role the entrepreneur Cannot be wedded to doing things what he did when…

AI assessment note: “I go on this three principles of right to win, creating a differentiation, talent”

Q What were the first principles thinking if you can go back to?

A So I, I'm not a technical person, you know, I'm very first. So I was very clear that I'm not going to be in a business which Which is going to where I'm not good at. I have to leverage my strengths. So one had to, and I'm also not very good in, um, In B to B kind of interactions, you know, I don't like to go and, you know, sell something to somebody. I'm not a smooth talker or anything like that. So I had to be in a business which involved mass where I don't have to sell it to my customers and just, it happened by chance. I mean, I never knew what I was going to do once I passed out of my college, you know, I never had any clue, but this initial forays into coconut oil and, and, and refined safflower oil just strengthened my hands and I, I realized that I really like this kind of work, this kind of business, and I am good at it also. So it just fitted in, you know, it's not preconceived notion that I have to go. I didn't have any vision or anything like that. And then the vision evolves, you know, and then when you succeed in one or two things, you say, okay, I want to do a few more things. Okay. There are failures. I've had multiple failures, but every failure has had learning opportunities and we have tried to improve. And in FMCG, you know, globally, one or two out of 10, ah, launches succeed. So I was prepared for that, and you know, whether it is because of lack of consume…

AI assessment note: “I was very clear that I'm not going to be in a business which”

Q And how do you, you know, because now you have a complete professional management at Mariko. How do you hire leaders who are much, much better than you?

A So that has always been my, uh, this thing that they had to be better than me, you know, then only my ability to delegate will be higher, you know? So, and that means that you have to create a strong employee value proposition. You have to be valued in the job market. The war for talent is, is much, most entrepreneurs don't realize the war for talent. To me, if they tackle the war for talent, And able to attract talent, then, you know, their job will be much easier, you know. So from day one, we've been trying to improve the image of the organization. If you look at whoever has stayed with us and gone out, we treat them as ambassadors, you know, because they can spread the word around about Mariko. If you're looking for a job in Mariko, and if you know one of our colleagues who was with us earlier, you'll check with him how was your experience in Mariko. And if you hear good things, then you'll be more open to join us. So I think you have to treat your ex-employees also as ambassadors, you know, uh, and they can improve the image and also do the right thing where you get written about whatever the culture you built or the strong governance you have, or the freedom you give individuals to operate in. So you have to attract good talent. And once you are able to improve the quality of talent, it has to be done perpetually. Every year you have to improve your quality talent because…

AI assessment note: “you have to create a strong employee value proposition. You have to be valued”