My Shift to Industry
In 2004 I made a radical shift to hardcore manufacturing. The new company Orient Agro (P) Limited’s Board of Directors wanted to implement a dairy project. They had hired dairy consultants and a full time manager (trouble shooter) for the task. Along with them I got to work with the architect and building contractor, at a later date. I studied and researched a lot on dairying and started building contacts in the dairy industry. With the help of the consultants I visited some dairy factories and eventually ended up doing a practical training in one of them. This was a huge eye opener for me and gave me insights into practical running and managing of a dairy factory. It went a long way later in running our own dairy factory. It is here where I got my first lessons in dairying, “if one has to prioritize between handling fresh milk and a dead body, give preference to milk otherwise the milk will kill you.” Meaning to say the, high perishable nature of milk financially kills oneself, if not handled at the right time and in the right way.
The work was pretty enlightening whether in the field, on construction site or hobnobbing with various government departments to seek permissions. The stark contrast of people like us sweating it out & chasing these government officers whereas these officers made merry with cups & cups of tea in an air conditioned atmosphere. The real challenge was getting these guys accept my submission in the first place.
Getting our project approved by the Bank and tying up funding was also an interesting job. One clearly see how much weight money carried and how these people generally treated their clients. We who were paying the bank interest were always at the receiving end and the deposit holders who were an expense in my eyes were an honourable lot! The plant was commissioned in a record time of 1.5 years against a projection of 2 years. Later on we were to achieve a 100% capacity utilisation of the plant in 6 months from date of commissioning. This indeed made the bank very proud of us. Before leaving the company I had managed to repay 80% of the bank’s term loan.
As the months’ progressed we started commercial production in 2005. By this time I was reporting to the Board of Directors with complete profit responsibility, an addition to my other responsibilities. However later I raised the total annual revenues to about Rs. 70 Million. But prior to that, I was assigned the task of supervising milk collection for the factory. So I ventured out in the field, village to village day in and day out meeting farmers and milk producers. People were very apprehensive in the beginning of giving their milk to a private player. Also at times language was a problem. So I figured out that we needed to hire a local procurement guy who was amongst one of them and be a trust worthy person for both.
It was really a great insight and learning from the common man and see the stark contrasts between the actual urban and rural divide. We eventually setup milk collection centres in over 150 villages in Alwar, Rajasthan; Gurgaon & Rewari Districts of Haryana. In addition more than 15 profitable milk collection routes with supervisors and outsourced transporting came into being after about a year’s of hard work and trust of the people.
I personally networked and managed the business relationship with large dairy enterprises & SME (small & medium enterprises) clients in the dairy industry in various villages, towns & cities. Seldom had these enterprises give out of realistic figures about their working. But it was a different learning from them. I got to see a different facet and ways of dealings, being basically personal and archaic. I adapted to these changes and left my suave style in the office. It wouldn’t work with rustic and well grounded fellow managers and owners. Later as a Senior Business Manager I was responsible for total customer satisfaction, market share & revenues.
In a highly competitive milk marketing scenario the competition is immense. But I was lucky to get my hands on Blue Ocean Strategy, a book that completely changed my outlook. I identified high growth opportunities, pursuits & provided unseen solutions to meet our objectives. I suggested to my Board that we start job working for other dairy players who did not have plants and were selling raw milk. I hinted at profitably changing the business model of the company. It took a while and few trials before my idea was accepted and implemented in totality. We were able to utilise our plant capacity further and increase our revenues with some incremental investments. We got more returns from the same infrastructure, other dairy players got a chance to process their milk and ultimately the customers got a better product. A win win situation for all.
Identifying and leveraging resources to enhance milk collection, facilitate better milk processing and efficient milk marketing to create value at every level has been my forte. It is very heartening to win the faith of 500 milk suppliers, 50 workers and 100 customers. In my initial years at Orient Agro (P) Limited I come in contact with a Dutch organisation offering technical assistance in dairying. The 1st dairy expert came in 2006 and we’ve had since then 3 such visits from these experts till 2010. All visits were a big learning experience for all of us in the company. It brought about a paradigm change and shift in our working. The learning was immense and further catapulted us from the herd.
Personally it was big achievement for me to undergo training twice at Company expense to the Netherlands. I was lucky to go to the Practical Training College, Oenkerk, The Netherlands. By chance this college was just 10 minutes away from our dairy expert’s house. So I got invited regularly to his house and learn the Dutch culture. At the college I was trained in milk production, milk processing and factory management from the best in the Industry. Learning at the college and living with an international community was the best thing I could have got at that time.
In 2010, I felt the need to have an international exposure for myself, so I explored and landed up as a Chief Executive Commercial Director in Afghanistan.
