Harsh Mariwala, 72, is one of the most respected entrepreneurs and visionaries. He built a domestic consumer goods company, Marico, on the strong pillars of transparency, governance, innovation, and a consumer-centric approach. Despite crises and stiff competition, Marico held up to the towering might of large MNCs and created lasting value for its stakeholders.
“I have built Marico from a small business to medium to large to now an institution which will survive beyond me. I have put in those processes, people, who will be in charge of the business even if something happens to me. Things like the strategy, purpose, culture, and values of the organisation and role of the board are very well defined. I have created an organisation which will last for perpetuity," Mariwala says in part one of an exclusive conversation on Forbes India Pathbreakers. But there’s more to Marico’s founder and chairman. He is a doting grandfather and his zest for life is unmissable. His days are packed with a bit of everything: Golf, Pilates, gym, leadership conferences, mentoring sessions, overseeing strategic plans at Marico, and a lot more. Mariwala, a life-long learner, has found balance and kept pace in a chaotic and rapidly changing world. Edited excerpts:
‘There’s always a silver lining to every problem’
My belief that everything happens for the good has been reinforced many times. There is always a positive side. There is always a silver lining to every problem. But sometimes some things are not in your fortune or destiny. Not getting into a B-school left me thinking how I would manage the company. I always wanted to recruit very good talent which was professional in terms of qualifications and capability. There are always ways to overcome that lack of formal education by doing short term programs, reading books, interacting with thought leaders. I have tried to constantly update myself. Learning is life-long. There is no end destination, it is a journey. I have seen many leaders who are open to learning. They are searching for meaning and solutions by talking to other individuals and trying to improve themselves. Such leaders have done very well in business and relationships.
‘Align all stakeholders in critical issues’
Apart from team-building, the larger learning for me was to align all stakeholders in critical issues. I was able to convince the family (elders) to allow me to take the family business of Bombay Oil Industries into a new company—Marico. That took two-three years. It required a lot of thinking, involving others, a lot of persuasion and grit which made that happen. So, looking back those three years were well spent. If I had not done that in a proper manner, I would still be battling family issues. For me, the learning was that when you want to bring in changes on critical matters, where many people are involved, it is better to build consensus and involve everyone to make the change happen.
‘Crisis helped us take steps to improve’
The biggest example is the case of Unilever (attempting a hostile takeover of Marico) when they wanted to enter the coconut oil segment. It was a big threat for Marico because they were 10 times larger than us in terms of turnover, the capacity to spend, and distribution. From my analysis, based on various people I met, from Karsanbhai Patel to my internal team to finding out how they will handle it at Hindustan Unilever (HUL), I realised that we could take them on because on the product side they couldn’t have done much. We already had a superior product. We were weak on advertising and distribution. This crisis helped us take steps to improve our distribution. We were not impacted. Over a period of time, we acquired their brand which was threatening us.
‘Build a culture of innovation’
One big problem with leaders is that they think they know it all. Some leaders have seen a downfall mainly because of their ego and believing that they know it all and they do not need to talk to others. To me it is the opposite. Because I had not learnt anything in a management school there was a hunger to learn which translated into very good results and reinforced my desire to constantly learn and search for answers. That is very important for success. In our innovation journey, whenever we are trying something new, we talk to customers, trade, and incorporate their view point so that when we are actually launching that product the chances of success are that much higher.
