Life stories of Indian and South East Asian business leaders

All of the people in my books are outstanding entrepreneurs but, every now and then, one of them demonstrates an extra "something" which I can't easily or simply define.  Bhavarlal Jain is one such person.  Like most, he had an eye for an opportunity, but he had an unusual approach to admitting his failures. In 1997 he took out a half page advertisement in the leading Economic Times...

Washington Sycip, known to most as "Wash", bestrode the accounting profession in South East Asia as a legend in his own life time.  He founded W SyCip and Co in 1946 as a "one man band" with the plan to make it the largest in the Philippines.  He did way more than that. It grew through a merger to become SGV and then grew further to become the largest professional services firm...

Ambassador Yuchengco founded the Yuchengko Group of Companies.  By the time I met him in 1998 he was already 75 and had  handed over day to day management to his eight children.  The group is prominent in many business sectors and includes major companies such as Malayan Insurance, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation and House of Investments - https://www.ygc.com/ He has led an extraordinary life...

Radhe Shyam Agarwal, is the co-founder and Chairman of Emami (https://www.emamiltd.in/) which is leading Indian conglomerate involved in  the businesses of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), paper, real estate, edible oils, health care and cement.  He is almost always referred to as RS Agarwal along with his co-founder and partial namesake, Radhe Shyam Goenka who is similarly almost always referre...

Keshub Mahindra was born in Shimla in 1923 into a well to do family.  Many in the family were educated at prestigious international universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and, in Keshub's case, Wharton.   Keshub's father, K C Mahindra (1894-1963) and uncle, J. C. Mahindra (1892-1950) founded Mahindra & Mahindra (https://www.mahindra.com/) in 1945. The group has grown to be o...

Venu Srinivasan is one of the grandsons of the founder of TVS Motor Company,  T. V. Sundaram Iyengar.  Under Venu's "watch" TVS (https://www.tvsmotor.com/en/ec/About-Us/overview) has grown to be the third-largest motorcycle company in India by revenue. TVS is also the second largest two-wheeler exporter in India with exports to over 60 countries.  In addition, he serves on the board...

The first thing that I felt on setting foot in 4 Mangoe Lane in Calcutta in 2012 where Williamson Magor has its premises is the enormous respect in which its Chairman, Mr. Brij Mohan Khaitan, was held.  You could feel this respect from the security guards at the gate all the way through to the receptionist, lift operator and his secretary and on into Mr. Khaitan’s office where we met.  Immediately...

I received sad news this week that Arunachalam Vellayan, the former Chairman of Murugappa and a 4th generation member of the storied  business family and a great grandson of the founder Dewan Bahadur Murugappa Chettiar passed away in Chennai on Monday 17 November at the age of 72 after a long illness. This is my interview with Arunachalam Vellayan in 2012 when he was Chairman of Murugappa and he g...

This is my interview with Anand Burman in 2012 and which is a chapter in my 2015 book - Profiles in Enterprise Inspiring stories of Indian business leaders published by Roli Books. There will certainly have been changes in Burman Limited and the Burman family since the date of my meeting with Anand Burman but, in my opinion, the history of the Burman family is fascinating as is the way the family...

Dr Chaijudh's life is an illustration of how traditional Asian values, including respect for one's parents, can often lead to children following a career path chosen by one's parents, rather than what the child wants to do.  Dr Chaiyudh wanted to be inolved in agriculture as a career but instead became a medical doctor following his father's preference.  However, once his fathe...

As will become clear as you listen to this chapter, not only did Dr Reddy have a brilliant scientific mind but he was able to pick and develop drugs which were "winners".  The world was indeed fortunate that his cousin persuaded him to study chemistry rather than history!  The company he founded is now the 10th largest pharma company in India and in the top 50 world-wide - https://www.dr...

Gunupati Venkata Krishna Reddy (born 22 March 1937) is a philanthropist and entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of the GVK Group (https://www.gvk.com) a major Indian business conglomerate with a predominant focus on infrastructure development.  He also heads GVK EMRI, the corporate social responsibility initiatives of the GVK Group. As the President of the All India Senior Tennis Associat...

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (born 23 March 1953) is the founder and chair of India's Biocon Limited ( https://www.biocon.com). Biocon is a global biopharmaceutical company changing patients’ lives in over 120 countries by finding new and affordable ways to treat diabetes, cancer and autoimmune diseases. Her life story is an inspiring one of not just persevering, but succeeding, as a woman in what was...

Deepak Parekh, is both charismatic and modest at the same time. His life story is an encouraging example for young people everywhere who aspire to a successful corporate career in demonstrating that one does not have to rank first in class to achieve that corporate success.  Whilst Deepak became a chartered accountant providing him with a core skill and experience, his corporate success came from...

Like all of the interviews for my books you may find it strange that I find each one unique in different ways.  This is the only interview where I was first interviewed by the subject and, having satisfied him of my bona fides, it is one of the most unusual interviews I have ever done.  It extended over several hours as, once Ciputra got flowing with his life story, he did not want to stop. But, a...

Rahul Bajaj who passed away at the age of 83 in 2022 had a larger than life personality and, like many of those who I have interviewed for my life story books, was a clear business thinker.  He was Chairman Emeritus of the Bajaj Auto empire founded by his grandfather, Jamnalal Bajaj and which was developed to become one of the largest Indian auto groups during his and his father's generation....

Julius Tahija who died in 2002 at the age of 86 was an extraordinary man.  As you will hear he followed a number of core principles which served him well throughout his life as a soldier (awarded the Netherlands Military Order of William during WW2 being that country's oldest and highest military honour) as a politician (holding several Ministerial posts in East Indonesia pre Independence) as...

Ela Bhatt was an absolutely extraordinary women who passed away in 2022 at the age of 89. The Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) she founded against strong opposition now has over 3.2 million members across 18 states in India. SEWA advances the rights of women workers in the informal economy such as those selling fruit and vegetables in the street.  Not only did Ela have to fight long a...

Following receiving his undergraduate and post graduate degrees in Maths and Statistics  at Annamalai University in his birth State of Tamil Nadhu, a young Bala Balachandran followed the path of many bright young Indians in the 1960s and moved to the US where he had a very successful academic and management consulting career ending as Professor Emeritus of Accounting Information and Management at...

AVS Raju (born 1937) is certainly one of the most unique businessmen I have met. Not only is he obsessed with punctuality in a country where being on time is the exception rather than the rule but he is also a deeply spiritual man and a devout follower of the late His Holiness Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba who passed away at the age of 85 in 2011. So devout in fact that AVS has written over 17,000...

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy (born 20 August 1946) is an Indian businessman. He is one of the seven co-founders of the leading global technology company, Infosys and was at different times its chairman, chief executive officer, president, and chief mentor before retiring and becoming chairman emeritus. Murthy has been listed among the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time by Fortune magazine....

Professor Swaminathan died at the age of 98 in 2023.  He was an extraordinary man and it is said his skills in genetic engineering and his powers of persuasion made famine an unfamiliar word in Asia. There is a memorable story of his encounter with the formidable Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who initially refused to allow him to take up what for him was the role of a life time as Director General...

Sengham Phinith was born on 2 December, 1940 near the Lao capital, Vientianne.  He trained as a civil engineer rising to Vice Minister of Construction before being falsely accused, dismissed and exiled to a remote region for four years.  The way he dealt with this cruel experience is inspirational. On his release in 1988 he founded a civil engineering consulting firm.  He passed away on 31 January...

Shahnaz Husain has built an enormous health care business from very humble beginnings starting in her New Delhi home.  It is an extraordinary life where she was born into a conservative Muslim family, married at 15 and became a mother at 16, spent time in Tehran before being ordered to return to India by her father when he heard that Shahnaz and her husband might take up Iranian citizenship. That...

Vijaypat Singhania, often known as VPS, has led an extraordinary life which is unique in many ways. He was born into a prominent and successful Marwari "joint family" whose original business was founded over a century ago, experienced an unhappy childhood at the hands of a "wicked stepmother", was betrothed at 12 to his future wife who was 9 at the time and somehow managed to c...