It all began with my grandfather failing his matriculation exams way back in the early 1900s in the erstwhile Kingdom of Mysuru. But for his father – a well-known barrister of the times – the news was indigestible. He gave my grandfather an ultimatum to fend for himself financially but that he will be given two meals a day and a place to sleep at night.
A proud boy even then, my grandfather found a job as a linesman with the local electricity board. His kind-hearted supervisor refused to see him as a failure. With his help, my grandfather finished his schooling and joined college in the late 1930s. He financed his graduation by selling subscriptions for a popular monthly magazine.
One fine day, he sought to buy an automotive component shop with the financial help from his childhood friends. And that is how Madhus Mill Stores was born in Mysore. He was farsighted to sense a boom building up in the passenger car and two-wheeler segments and made well-timed investment in pneumatic tyres. Business flourished and he set up a second tyre outlet in 1970 in Bangalore. But joy was short-lived. He was soon diagnosed with cancer and passed away at the young age of 52 years. His sons were forced to juggle between attending college and taking care of the business.
As his second son, my father – B.M. Ravi – was delegated to take care of the Bangalore outlet. In 1981, my father opened his own tyre store, Madhus Enterprises and in 1986-87, he established Madhus Garage Equipment. Today, Madhus is present in over 35 locations across India and has training centres in Bangalore, Delhi and the latest one is coming up in Pune, which should be ready by October this year. We have over 110 service engineers, a little more than 60 sales executives and about 240 employees in total.
Since my childhood I have been an automobile enthusiast. Though my parents went out of their way to not pressurize me into joining the family business and that I could do opt for any career of my choice, yet it remained my aspiration. Even when I was studying Mechanical Engineering in Bangalore, my heart was never really into it. Throughout my studying years, I had clear instructions to focus only on my academics.
I can say a defining moment came in 2008-2009, when I represented Madhus at an event abroad. During the introductions, I realised that everyone knew us. It was a magnificent adrenalin rush to know that my grandfather’s name is known across the country. That, sort of, sealed my decision to formally join the company.
My first job was at our Bangalore tyre showroom in 2008 and I also was an employee of Madhus Garage Equipment. I joined as a management trainee and was offered the starting salary of Rs. 15,000 as the other newbie engineers there. I learnt to change tyres, execute wheel balancing besides other jobs. Lest I assume that it is an easy climb for me to the MD’s chair, I was sat down by my father and our Director, Mr. Narasimhan, and was clearly told that I needed to prove my worth to even think of myself as the future MD.
I worked at Madhus for about two years and proceeded to do my MBA in Marketing. I came back to Madhus in 2012 as the DGM – Business Development and looked after marketing and sales. Again, Mr. Ravi, Mr. Narasimhan and Executive Director Mr. Rajesh Philip told me that they had plans for me in the company, but that I still needed to prove myself. It was always a welcome reminder, if I can call it that.
I started handling sales for the next two years in Delhi, and then in Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets for another two years. The ground zero experience of meeting customers and interacting closely with our sales and service engineer teams was invaluable. In time, I was promoted to be the General Manager and worked in Maharashtra and Gujarat markets also. I found out that all the markets are different and so are their working styles.
Today, as the Vice President I am working on training programs, hiring policies, and upgrading the overall quality of the team to a much higher standard. And I am proud to add that I am still the fastest tyre changing technician at Madhus with my personal best record standing at 53 seconds. If at all one can, then it is Mr. Rajesh who can match it (smiles).
My parents have given me three cornerstones to build my life and business on – dignity of labour, respecting every human being, and building a successful company without compromising on humaneness and ethics. My biggest lesson is not to underestimate anyone because valuable suggestions can come from the most unexpected sources.
I am thankful that I am surrounded by inspiring individuals. My father shares a story from his younger days when once he went to my grandfather’s shop and sat on his chair. My grandfather told him that he is yet to earn the right to that seat, and to go back to his duties of cleaning and getting the shop ready for business. I have a parallel story too. During my three-month pre-university vacation in 2002, my father asked me to work at the tyre shop to get hands-on experience. I naively assumed that I would get to spend hot summers inside the air-conditioned showroom. My father caught me on day one of my job and told me to learn how to change the tyre and do wheel balancing. After that I was not allowed in the chilled showroom (smiles). My only incentive was that I could earn Rs. 2 for every wheel I balanced and Rs. 3 for every tyre I changed. They were lenient though and expected me to work for only half a day every day. The other half was for me to enjoy my vacations.
I have had the benefit of hindsight in realising the true worth of the concept of a working mother. As a child, it was normal for my sister and I to see our mother go to work but also be present at home for us. Today, as a husband and a father of two children, I realise that it was my mother, Mrs. Meera, who had ‘normalised’ it for us. I feel proud that my mother – who ran one of our tyre outlets for 19 years and who now runs a counselling and training academy – is an entrepreneur in her own right. And the tyre business is one sector where even today there are few women professionals.
Madhus is a solution provider company and that is why we are benchmarking ourselves to global standards and hence are re-designing our training programs to be in alignment with that aim. My plans for the company are in unison with the strategy that our seniors and the team have. I would like to continue with these well-established and truly rewarding systems and processes that have stood Madhus in good stead over the years.
What I would like to carry forward is the amazing fact that none of us are indispensable at Madhus because we are a professionally run company. Going further, I wish to see Hunter brand a household name in India. I will continue to build Madhus with our open-door policy, keep our books clean, and work towards employee happiness quotient.
Earning the right to the coveted position is something that my colleagues think I can achieve in a mere few years. But personally, only when re-training of our sales and service team and revamping of our marketing and branding strategy start yielding expected results, I may feel like I have not let down people’s faith in me – especially that of my parents.
As told to Sarada Vishnubhatla