Often, emotional ties, respect for elders, pressure within family, etc. come in the way of mature decision-making regarding the handover of baton to the second generation.
A general aphorism – what starts in family stays in family – describes the most certain result of a family-owned business. But there is definitely more to what happens to an enterprise between being owned by a first generation that establishes the company brick by brick to be taken over by the second generation, or more so, failing to survive even before this succession takes place. Often, emotional ties, respect for elders, pressure within family, etc. come in the way of mature decision-making regarding the handover of baton to the second generation. But for now, we will be talking about the success stories of India’s popular and loved family-run businesses or brands. A report by Tanya Krishna
Diversification of the Family Business
Rishabh Oswal, president of Monte Carlo, a market leader from the house of Oswal Woolen Mills Ltd., the flagship company of Nahar Group, is the fourth generation of Oswal family and grandson of Jawahar Lal Oswal. To his credit, Rishabh has taken the Nahar Group of Companies to great heights. The company was started by J L Oswal’s father, Vidya Sagar Oswal, in 1949. Owing to his innovative approach and zeal, Rishabh launched his own sportswear brand by the name of ‘Rock It’. Aged just 25, Rishabh is all set to make ‘Rock It’ a sought after name in the Indian athleisure fashion market.
“For Monte Carlo, I and my team have a different approach of functioning since we have minimised the manual work and have become more technologically-driven. I have received many insights from my father and grandfather about business acumen, about how to diversify the business and develop the business processes for smoother operations, etc. and accordingly look after the functioning of the brand,” Rishabh says.
Getting Technologically Ready
Ayush Mehra is the young and dynamic face of ‘Study By Janak’ and is driving the three-decade old legacy of the firm. He joined the lineage created by his father, Manoj Mehra, an ace designer and entrepreneur in the year 2011. Study By Janak had its humble beginnings from a single boutique store with a mission to offer perfectly fitted apparel crafted out of the finest fabric and colour of your choice. Ayush credits his success to the work craft and knowledge of business he has borrowed from his father, the only difference being that he has automated that entire knowledge.
Informs Ayush: “The customised system helped manage the business efficiently and automate the front-end to back-end functions related to technology, services, human resources, etc., which in turn accelerated business growth by 300% within a short span.” While elaborating on the implementation of ERP, Ayush says, “Since our business is made to measure, customer satisfaction was a major challenge. This is where ERP was integrated with CAD (Computer Aided Design). Surprisingly, there is a high variation in the physiologies of Indians as compared to people in western countries. For instance, we have to make sure that people with potbellies look good after wearing our clothes. We also incorporated a ‘first price right’ approach, steering clear of the legacy of discounts and also the ‘feather touch loyalty program’ was introduced which helps in collecting data on consumer buying patterns.”
Furthermore, the brand also tied up with leading fabric brands of the world. Talking about his plans for the brand, Ayush asserts, “We are going to open two stores in Dubai. I love fabrics and so we are strengthening our core operations. I have met with the textile mill owners of Italy and exclusively tied up with them. Just like how Scabal and Xenia have distribution across the world, we too will offer distribution from Dubai. The name is yet to be decided and the launch will take place in August 2018. Another brand to be launched by SBJ in August 2018 will be Tailormade which is a brand for the masses. The group plans to open 20 stores together in August and in the next five years another 100 stores. Gaurav Marya, who is the chairman of Franchise India, is a partner in the venture.”
Brand Visibility is the Key
A finance and management graduate from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Ishaan Jain was working in the private equity sector before joining Biotique. When Ishaan Jain joined Biotique, there wasn’t much requirement for a drastic change but there always was scope for growth and expansion in the product range, which became critical for him then. Under his leadership, Biotique opened 100 company-owned retail outlets across the country. Besides, the brand also focused on international expansion. Ishaan also paid due attention towards technological advancements and maintaining brand visibility among youth.
“Over the last decade there has been a tremendous boom in the beauty and wellness industry, accompanied with a move towards digitalization of the economy with a proliferation of the social media outreach and how the millennials interact with each other. All this has transformed the new agendas for the young next generation entrepreneurs. In this era of digitization, it is crucial for companies and young entrepreneurs to lead this change not only on the online front but also in the traditional trade by improving systems and processes to make them more efficient,” Ishaan says.
“Our aim is to maintain a sustainable and strong foundation to lead global platforms and to make Biotique the first name that comes to consumers’ mind when they refer to Ayurvedic products,” he adds. The year when he joined the business, Biotique grew at 80% and has been growing at a CAGR of 35%. Today, Biotique is a 100% debt-free company, with the family having 100% ownership.
Rebranding and Upgrading to Stay Relevant
Rahil Gandhi is the fourth generation director of Vadilal Dairy International Limited. The company, named after his great grandfather Vadilal Gandhi, was started with selling sodas in 1907 and has travelled through four generations of Gandhis. And now with his own set of experiences and an understanding of today’s consumer, Rahil Gandhi is working to make the organisation a lot leaner in terms of lesser workforce where a majority of the operations would be automated.
“On the sales and marketing level, I think social media is playing a big part. We have just started our social media campaign, print media, usage of Instagram and Facebook, customer engagement and lots of college events to maintain our brand visibility. We are trying to basically interact with the youth of the country. We are also looking to invest in a big way towards advertisements and promotions, etc. in order to upgrade the brand’s visibility. Previously, the company had been conservative in spending money in marketing and for on-site campaigns. At the factory level, there has been a lot of revamping; there has been expansion and automation in the factory as well,” Rahil informs.
“We are also trying to penetrate the rural markets as well. Our team is working towards changing the entire branding and upgrading the identity of Vadilal Dairy International. We are also coming up with newer packaging, new flavours in ice-creams and other innovations,” he adds. Rahil believes that hard work and maintaining the ethics which his forefathers had set down will work wonders towards charting a new route for growth over the coming years.
Integrating Modern Practices with Conventional Ones
Nikita Poojari is the second generation director of the renowned Shiv Sagar brand of restaurants which came into being in 1990 when Narayan Poojari dreamt of opening a chain of restaurants that would serve healthy fast food. Nikita pursued Instrumentation Engineering from Vivekanand Education Society’s Institute of Technology and later chose to immerse herself completely into setting up Fish N Bait, a fine dine restaurant set in the heart of Bandra Kurla Complex. “We have been into Shiv Sagar for 15 years now and it’s been six months since I ventured into Fish N Bait, which is very modern in terms of the ambience and interiors unlike our Shiv Sagar restaurants which are very conventional,” Nikita says.
Her aim was to serve both, their old regular customers through their traditional restaurants as well as tap new clientele or the millennials through the Fish N Bait outlets. As a teenager, one of the first few tasks that she was given was to assist her father in maintaining the payroll of his restaurant staff at Shiv Sagar. She believes that though the task was small, it built a strong work ethic, the impact of which has stayed till date and has continued to serve her well in managing the new branch of business.
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