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The X-Men (Contn.)
Once upon a time there were three young women who went to work for a financial institution that wished to be a super-bank and they were each assigned very hazardous duties.... That could well be the beginning of the story about three very successful young women who work for ICICI: Shikha Sharma, 41, who in a 20-year long stint at the company was part of the team that booted up I-Sec-a ICICI-JP Morgan joint venture-before moving on to head, first, personal financial services, and now, ICICI Prudential; Madhabi Puri-Buch, who at the ripe old age of 35, heads two of the company's new ventures, ICICI Webtrade and ICICI Capital Services; and Chanda Kochhar, 39, who heads personal financial services (she's Sharma's successor) and the e-com group. All three mouth a similar refrain about the thrill associated with start-ups. ''It's as if someone gave you a blank sheet of paper and allowed you to dream,'' gushes Sharma. They also read from the same script when asked to name the qualities a start-up person needs to possess: team-skills; the ability to work in an unstructured environment with little supervision; and the willingness to learn and adapt. ''It's all about inspiring the right people to join you, and convincing them of your vision,'' explains Puri-Buch. A chat with the three also highlights the fact that while being part of a start-up may be stimulating it is hard too, in terms of work-and the sheer range of it-and life. An EIR, it is evident, doesn't have the luxury of working to a stable schedule. ''There are good days and there are bad days. And there are very long days,'' sighs Kochhar. Still, there's a high associated with being hand-picked to head a new venture, and none of the three would have it any other way. -Abir Pal
In the early 80s, when the Bharti group hired Arjun from Sunil Symchem, it was to leverage his experience and launch a gelatin-capsules business, United Pharma International (it now goes by the name of Bharti Healthcare). The venture ran into rough weather, but Arjun stayed on. Then, in 1992, the group won a provisional cellular licence for Mumbai, and Arjun-one of the few senior managers in the group who was familiar with the city, and the only bachelor (he still is) among the prospects-was sent there with additional charge of the business. There was little to do-Max and Bharti were locked in legal battle over the licence-and Arjun ran both the pharma and the cellular businesses out of Mumbai. In 1994, the group's telecom aspirations fell into place when it was awarded the Delhi licence. And Arjun came back, as Chief Operating Officer, to get Airtel off the ground. He did that, and by 1998, Airtel had established itself. That was the year BT, Bharti's JV partner in Bharti-BT Internet suggested that the group launch its ISP-project. Sunil Mittal picked a reluctant Arjun to head Mantra (as the ISP-offering was branded). ''This was even more challenging than the cellular business,'' recollects Arjun. ''Nobody knew what the ISP business was about.'' Mantra wasn't a runaway success like Airtel, but by May, 2000, it had established a not-insignificant presence in five cities with seven launches on the anvil. So, when the GOI opened up the domestic long distance telephony market to private companies in August, 2000, Mittal insisted that Arjun be the one to get the business-Bharti Telesonic-going. ''Everyone was getting into dotcoms at the time,'' grins Arjun, ''and I was getting out. And getting out at a time when we were just about getting our revenue model right.'' Fortunately for Arjun, every move of his has been to a more 'happening' sector. The man's also got just one axiom on managing start-ups: the first days are the hardest days (actually the first seven). ''It takes a lot of knowledge to get a business plan in place,'' explains Arjun, and the first seven days is the time-frame he prescribes for garnering this ken: by reading, meeting people, and extrapolating secondary data. End word: ''If it becomes easy, there is no fun.'' -Suveen K. Sinha & Seema Shukla
Vivek Jetley (he's the 'J' we are referring to) joined as the corporate accounts manager in 1989, when Max India was yet another company manufacturing drug intermediates. Not many agreed with his decision then. His previous employer, the construction equipment division of Escorts Ltd had a turnover twice that of Max's. And nothing much happened till 1998. That was the year it all began for Jetley. Singh sold his stake in Hutchison Max to Hutchison Whampoa, and Ashwani Windlass, who had spearheaded Max's forays into all its previous businesses left the group for Reliance Telecom. So, Jetley found himself the Managing Director of Max India, which had no business of its own but was sitting on Rs 561 crore in cash, thanks to the sale of its equity in Hutchison Max. Until then, Jetley-an MBA from Benaras Hindu University with qualifications in accounting and company secretaryship to boot-was considered the finance brains of the company. As managing director, he was a key figure in the core team that looked for possible investment destinations, before zeroing in on healthcare, information technology, and insurance in mid-1999. And with three different forays being planned simultaneously, Jetley had to ensure that things went well with all three. Jetley picks identifying the right businesses to enter as the biggest challenge he has faced, but adds, almost in the same breath, that doing this is only marginally more difficult than identifying the right partner and the right people for execution. By the end of 2000, all three forays were well under way; CEOs had been identified for two of the three ventures: Noni Chawla for healthcare, and Tony Singh for insurance. As had been a JV partner, New York Life, for the insurance business. By then, Jetley had decided to take on the responsibility of growing the infotech business upon himself. ''Now, the width is much less. Which is the way it should be,'' says he. ''It was getting to be impossible for any one person to take care of all three businesses and do justice to them. But the depth is much more now.'' -Suveen K. Sinha
-Roshni Jayakar
Heading the team of bright sparks is Dalip Sehgal, Executive Director (New Ventures), HLL. Since April, 2000, Sehgal has been in charge of Levers' foray into new ventures with a handpicked team of 18 people. In one of those coincidences that means little, Sehgal has spent exactly 18 years with HLL. In the man's own words his brief stems from: "Project Millennium, which identified nine growth engines for the company. Broken up into small focused teams, we've been examining all potential opportunities, their market sizes, entry strategies, business plans, and even setting time-frames for execution and implementation.'' As Sehgal explains the process of zeroing in on new initiatives (based on an analysis of the opportunities, market dynamics, and the company's internal resources) it becomes evident that the approach has the quintessential Lever touch of thoroughness. Sehgal's recipe for success is what he calls the 4C's: creativity, culture, commitment, and courage. He's quick to hold up HLL's idea of using self-help groups-one of the initiatives he was involved in-to push penetration into the rural hinterland as a striking example of innovation. "Everyone gained," he says. "The company ended up with a strong sales force and they (the members of the self-help groups) benefited in terms of being employed." Today, HLL boasts 150,000 self-help groups across the country. Being the guardian of ideas in a company that is run like an efficient machine, claims Sehgal, isn't as hard as it is made out to be: " It's an incorrect notion that HLL managers are straitjacketed and that there's little room for innovation. ''The new ventures team shows HLL's commitment to new opportunities." Sehgal should know a thing or two about charting unknown waters. He launched the country's first pouch tea, Taaza. And a few years back he was involved in the launch of Annapurna atta and Annapurna salt. What keeps him going? "No two days are the same," answers Sehgal. One moment you could be fine tuning your internet strategy for targeting middle class households in Mumbai and in the other you could be in the midst of 300 enthusiastic women in Andhra Pradesh all of whom are keen to market your products.'' What can beat this? -Abir Pal |
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Eighteen
years is a long time to spend in a group (even if they have been spread
across four businesses). That's exactly what N. Arjun, now designated the
CEO of Bharti Telesonic, has done. What's the secret of his successful run
in starting up businesses? Is it the quiet-spoken MBA's information-heavy
approach to creating business plans? Is it his team-skills? Or is it
nothing more than the passion for tennis he shares with the group's CEO?
In
the mid-1980s when Analjit Singh launched his first company he named it
Max: M from the first letter of his father's name, A from his mother's,
and X, for God. While it's not reflected in the company's name, a certain
'J' factor joined the company in 1989, and has remained a key constituent
even as Max has got into or out of businesses like drug intermediates,
electronics, cellular telephony, health care, insurance, and information
technology.
The
corner room at the general-HG of HDFC Standard Life, on the fifth floor of
IL&Fs Building, at the Bandra-Kurla complex is abuzz with activity.
The resident of the room, 52-year-old Deepak Satwalekar, the CEO of HDFC
Standard Life, is excited about the newest business he's been asked to
head. There's a significant difference in magnitude: the insurance venture
marks the single-largest investment, Rs 137 crore, made by HDFC. As has
been his habit, Satwalekar is the first to come in, and, almost always,
the last to leave as he wrestles with the teething troubles that typically
beset a new business (in a new area of business). As Deepak Parekh, HDFC's
Chairman, told BT some time ago: ''Since one of my senior-most colleagues
is building the insurance venture, I have enormous comfort level.'' A
mechanical engineer from IIT (Mumbai) and a masters in finance from The
American University, Satwalekar has been responsible for several of HDFC's
new initiatives. As a part of the core team at HDFC-he was made its
managing director in 1993-he has been a catalyst in its expansion into
other services like banking, mutual funds, and consumer finance. 
Scene:
Starters and More, a quaint café tucked away beside Mumbai's Churchgate
station. A group of young people are engrossed in an animated discussion.
If you're getting ready to dismiss this as just another corporate bash,
hold your horses. You, patient reader, have just walked into one of the
frequent brainstorming sessions of Hindustan Lever Ltd.'s (HLL) New
Ventures team.