Over the next few years,
if India Inc. ends up better understanding the dynamics of family-owned
businesses, it may have Thomas Schmidheiny to thank for it. The
Swiss billionaire industrialist-cum-philanthropist has funded a
research chair in 'Family Business and Wealth Management' at the
Indian School of Business in Hyderabad. What got him interested?
The fact that "I see a huge demand for knowledge in this field,
especially in the Indian context". Schmidheiny, 61, who started
his career in the family-owned Holcim's (yes, the same outfit that
has been mopping up cement capacities in India) Mexico plant, rose
to become its Chairman & CEO for two decades (1984-2003). Schmidheiny
loves to sail and play tennis, and is a big fan of Swiss painter
Ferdinand Hodler. Needless to say, his is the biggest collection
in the world. 
$6 Billion Plus and Counting
Valentine's
day saw the Ruia brothers, Shashi (63) and Ravi (58), receive
much more than red roses from the Hutch-Vodafone dealmaker, Arun
Sarin. With Hutch Essar being valued at $18.8 billion, the 33
per cent stake that the Ruia brothers hold is valued at a whopping
$6.3 billion. Including the value of the rest of diversified business
interests, their net value is estimated to be around $6.7 billion.
That fortune means that the Ruias jump 165 places in the Forbes
2006 list of the world's richest people from rank 245 to rank
80. The Ruias now share that rank with Charles Ergen, founder
of satellite-TV service EchoStar and Edward Johnson III, Chairman
of Fidelity. Managing relationships may be funny business, but
the wealth that Vodafone's Sarin has engendered for them is no
funny money.
Onto His Third
In January, Anant Koppar,
47, quit his job as president of Mphasis technologies (now called
EDS India), without another offer in hand. As it turns out, he
didn't need one. Koppar, who co-founded BFL Software and Kshema
Technologies, is turning entrepreneur all over again. His third
venture is called KTwo Technology Solutions. "We have named
it after the second-highest mountain, which is tougher to climb
than the Everest," says Koppar. Tough it will be because
the third time around, Koppar has chosen to plunge into software
product space and not services, like the previous two times. Venture
capitalists are more than keen to put money behind KTwo, but Koppar
is in no hurry. "The more important thing is to identify
the right space and the right product, money will follow,"
he says. Spoken like a seasoned entrepreneur.
 The
Strategist
"I
never expected that I could sit in India and do work for the whole
of Asia," says Partha Sinha, who has been elevated to the
position of a regional strategist for Publicis Asia and will be
based in Mumbai. As a regional strategist, the 40-year-old Sinha,
an IIT Kharagpur and IIM-A alumnus, will focus on new initiatives.
"My role will be to create branding and planning tools and
interesting thought platform for the whole of Publicis Asia,"
he says. "I will be responsible for creating strategic leadership
for Publicis Dialog, the new-age holistic marketing communication
company of Publicis," says Sinha, who's done stints at a
nuclear power plant, Citibank, and Zee. In his new job, Sinha
will work with Publicis India MD & CEO Nakul Chopra as well
as the Asia-Pacific regional team. His job changes, but his city
doesn't.
Slick Move
 There
were seven others in the running, but at the end, smarts and seniority
worked in favour of Arun Balakrishnan. Starting April 1, Balakrishnan,
58, will take over as the Chairman and Managing Director of state-owned
oil major, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL). Balakrishnan,
an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, is Director of Human Resources, and
is credited with turning around HPCL's lubricant business. His
new task is, however, far more uphill. His predecessors, including
the outgoing Chairman M.B. Lal and the one before him, H.L. Zutshi,
were seen as conservative in their approach. Partly because HPCL
has the advantage of selling more products than it refines (it
buys the rest). How often will Balakrishnan step out of the crease?
Wait and watch.
 India
Inside IBM
With
53,000 people in India and another 1,000 being added every month,
IBM's India operations already employ 16 per cent of Big Blue's
global workforce. Little wonder, then, that Rajesh Nambiar, VP
and GM of IBM's Global Services and in charge of this mammoth
workforce, has been inducted into Chairman Sam Palmisano's technology
team, the core think-tank that makes all crucial technology decisions.
The Bangalore-based Nambiar, a 17-year veteran of TCS, joined
IBM just three months ago and his induction into the elite technology
team is seen as an indication of the importance that the Armonk,
New York-headquartered company gives to its Indian operations.
Nambiar, 39, for his part says that there is hardly any conversation
in the company in which India doesn't figure. With him in Sam's
tech team, India should figure a lot more.
-Contributed by Venkatesha Babu,
Balaji Chandramouli, T.V. Mahalingam, R. Sridharan and Anusha
Subramanian
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