Corporate India is full of stories of sibling rivalries splitting big family houses and brothers banding together to build enterprises. Now, even as India Inc increasingly move towards professionalism, several top entrepreneurs are bringing in their sons and daughters to family business.
So, there’s billionaire Ajay-Swati Piramal’s daughter Nandini leading the OTC healthcare business and human resources of the Piramal group while her younger brother Anand manages the realty business.
At the $4-billion plus Godrej group, chairman Adi Godrej’s children Tanya, Nisaba and Pirojsha are handling various aspects of the business. Experts say promoters giving business responsibility to their daughters, including married ones, marks a change in Indian businessmen’s mindset.
“Probably, changes in inheritance law and daughters allowed to pursue academics abroad is fuelling this trend,” says Kavil Ramachandran, professor of family business & wealth management at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. ET takes a list of some of the most prominent brother-sister scions in the country:
Children of Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group
Tanya Dubash, 45, Executive Director & President, Marketing
Started off as a brand manager with Godrej Soaps in 1993. She then took up the task of reshaping Godrej’s image by creating a vibrant logo which made the company enter new age categories with ease. As chief brand officer, Tanya works on enhancing the value of the Godrej brand and evolving the group to a more brand-driven organisation. She also oversees Godrej Nature’s Basket, a gourmet food retailing chain.
Nisaba Godrej, 36, Executive Director
In the last eight years, Nisaba has been trying to challenge and change old and set templates at the 117-year-old company. After engineering a turnaround at its agribusiness arm Godrej Agrovet, she drew up a five-year roadmap at Godrej Consumer Products with focus on inorganic growth.
This led to eight acquisitions between 2009 and 2011 and a transformation in terms of culture. Nisaba’s job now includes attracting and developing talent and making the group more agile and innovative.
Pirojsha Godrej, 33, Managing Director
Pirojsha became the youngest chief executive in the group when he was given charge of Godrej Properties in 2012. He has been given a near impossible goal of reaching $3.6-billion revenues by 2020 from just $200 million now.
He has served as the additional private secretary to the minister of state for external affairs in 2003 and worked as a summer intern in the senate office of Hillary Clinton in 2002.
Children of Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group
Shashwat Goenka, 23, Sector Head (RETAIL)
As the youngest business head of modern retail in India, Shashwat’s priority is to make Spencer’s Retail profitable. He says he is “almost there”. The young Goenka is exploring newer areas such as cash-and-carry wholesale business, e-commerce and neighbourhood stores to expand the business and plans to list the company to raise capital.
His passion? To cook exotic Italian, Japanese and Thai cuisines. No wonder, Spencer’s outlets now have finefood hubs selling exotic raw materials and cooked food.
Avarna Jain, 28, In Charge, Au Bon Pain Cafe Bakery
Avarna’s first brush with Au Bon Pain’s bagels and soups in bread bowl at the campus cafe in University of Pennsylvania way back in 2007 made her an instant fan. So much so, she convinced dad Sanjiv Goenka to bring the American chain to India as master franchisee.
Avarna is confident she can take on the likes of Cafe Coffee Day and KFC by positioning Au Bon Pain as tasty and healthy. The chain has 29 outlets and will add 20 more by the end of this fiscal.
Children of RS Agarwal, Co-founder & Chairman, Emami Group
Aditya V Agarwal, 39, Director
The elder son of RS Agarwal has played a role across businesses of the Rs 7,000-crore group with interests in FMCG, edible oil, retail, hospitals and cement. Aditya currently heads the cement, edible oil and bio-diesel, healthcare and paper manufacturing businesses of the group.
He was behind Emami’s foray into edible oil and has already created two successful brands — Rs 1,000 crore Himani Gold Lite and Rs 200 crore Healthy & Tasty.
Harsha V Agarwal, 38, Director
Aditya’s younger brother Harsha is responsible for running the FMCG business and heads functions like M&A, HR, IT and advertising. He was the key man behind Emami’s acquisition of ‘She Comfort’ brand from Royal Hygiene Care last month.
He also charted Emami’s entry into deodorants with the ‘He’ brand, and spearheaded the recent spate of appointments. Harsha is fond of cooking and often shares the family kitchen with Aditya.
Priti A Sureka, 41, Director
The eldest of the Agarwal scions, Priti is a key driver of Emami’s marketing division and heads the company’s R&D and market research divisions. She is also responsible for Boroplus, which has been recently extended into newer segments like anti-pollution face wash.
Priti has also mentored the group’s entry into the retail business with the FrankRoss chain of pharmacy, which has been expanded beyond Kolkata to the entire eastern region.
Scions of Kishore Biyani, Group CEO, Future Group
Vivek Biyani, 29, Head, DIGITAL BUSINESSES
He is Kishore Biyani’s nephew and is leading one of the most ambitious projects of the retail giant — Big Bazaar Direct that aims to have 50,000 franchisees. Prior to this, Vivek was part of the leadership team at Home Solutions which ran retail formats such as Home Town, eZone among others. He led operations, category management and logistics and was involved almost since the format’s inception.
Ashni Biyani, 29, Director, FUTURE IDEAS
The daughter of Kishore Biyani was the first woman in the family to enter the business. She launched Future Ideas, and leads a team that understands nuances of Indian consumers and maps behavioural shifts of consumers and communities. She also developed large stores — Big Bazaar family centres — meant as community convergence points. Ashni has also helped conceptualise ‘Holii’ a fashion accessories brand.
Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/37804242.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst