SPIRIT
OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
RAVI
SAXENA, FOUNDER, WONDERCHEF
Cooking Up A Biz
He chose to move from earning a salary of over Rs 1 crore to occupying a 20-sq-ft office and having no idea how much his next income would be. But he was passionate — about food — and he had patience and humility, attributes that he says he got from his middle class upbringing. These helped him through the early part of his entrepreneurial journey to create cookware for the Indian kitchen.
And today, just four years since its founding, Ravi Saxena’s Wonderchef, which he built in partnership with renowned chef Sanjeev Kapoor, is a Rs 50-crore company. The products are available through all possible channels — traditional retail, modern retail, TV shopping, web sales and direct marketing. “We have created a network of 10,000 direct marketing women professionals and feel happy we have created so many entrepreneurs ourselves,” says Saxena.
His entrepreneurial ambitions germinated when he was a student at IIM-Ahmedabad. This Mecca of management education then offered a course in entrepreneurship management as part of its syllabus.
“Stalwarts of Indian business taught us this course as guest lecturers and we met some very accomplished entrepreneurs as well,” recalls Saxena.
His early personal life also had a big influence on his future. His father, a teacher, passed away when he was young. Being the eldest child, Saxena had to shoulder a lot of responsibility. He did an electronics engineering course from Delhi College of Engineering, which he completed in 1990. He then qualified for both IIM–A and a master’s degree programme in an American University. He chose to be in Ahmedabad as he thought the US degree would not bring him any interesting work opportunity in India. “There was also a patriotic streak in me,” he says.
His entrepreneurial desires, however, had to take a backseat because he didn’t know where his capital would come from. So he signed up with Blow Plast as a marketing manager. This was the early 1990s, and MNCs were trying to establish their businesses in India.
Saxena received an offer from Citibank and, almost simultaneously, another from international food business group Sodexo which was looking for someone
(Chef Sanjeev) Kapoor had cookery books, a food channel and restaurants. The missing link was healthy food making accessories that could empower women. I focused on that... It was a challenge to convince (international manufacturers) that there was a market thirsting for quality cookware
who could set up and drive its Sodexo Pass business in India. Saxena chose Sodexo because it offered him a lot of independence. The Sodexo Pass soon became a household name — at least in the upper middle class homes — as most major Indian corporate houses built in Sodexo Pass entitlements in their employee compensation packages.
Saxena helped to extend Sodexo’s India footprint to the catering business and later into facilities management. In twelve years, Saxena was the CEO and MD of Sodexo in India, overseeing an organization of over 6,000 people. In 2006, he moved on as the head of Dubai-based Landmark Group’s restaurants and food courts business in India. He developed eight businesses including the master franchise for Yellow Chilli restaurants, Gloria Jeans Coffee chain and Fun City.
Three years into that, he saw an opportunity finally to do something of his own. He had seen India’s food journey for close to two decades, seen the changing tastes and lifestyles of people. He roped in Sanjeev Kapoor, who had become a household name thanks to the Khana Khazana programme. He had worked with Kapoor when he won the master franchise for Kapoor’s Yellow Chilli restaurant chain. Two others joined the venture — Frenchman Nicholas Grass and Italian Alessandro Giuliani, both big names in the global hotels scene.
“Kapoor had cookery books, a food channel and restaurants. The missing link was healthy food making accessories that could empower women. I focused on that,” says Saxena. Wonderchef scouted for the best cooking utensils and accessories across the world and began establishing relationships with international manufacturers. “It was a challenge to convince them that India was not just the country of ten well-known cities, that there was a much larger market thirsting for quality cookware and willing to pay for it,” Saxena recalls.
Kapoor’s image and the hard work of his team of 120 quickly spread Wonderchef across the strata of Indian homes. The products also carry long warranties of two years to 25 years, which lend a lot of credibility. “Now we tell the overseas partners to make cookware relevant for India. The wok we developed with Italy’s Ballarini or the dosa tawa or gas tandoor with other partners stand as examples of
this,” he says. ‘
He chose to move from earning a salary of over Rs 1 crore to occupying a 20-sq-ft office and having no idea how much his next income would be. But he was passionate — about food — and he had patience and humility, attributes that he says he got from his middle class upbringing. These helped him through the early part of his entrepreneurial journey to create cookware for the Indian kitchen.
And today, just four years since its founding, Ravi Saxena’s Wonderchef, which he built in partnership with renowned chef Sanjeev Kapoor, is a Rs 50-crore company. The products are available through all possible channels — traditional retail, modern retail, TV shopping, web sales and direct marketing. “We have created a network of 10,000 direct marketing women professionals and feel happy we have created so many entrepreneurs ourselves,” says Saxena.
His entrepreneurial ambitions germinated when he was a student at IIM-Ahmedabad. This Mecca of management education then offered a course in entrepreneurship management as part of its syllabus.
“Stalwarts of Indian business taught us this course as guest lecturers and we met some very accomplished entrepreneurs as well,” recalls Saxena.
His early personal life also had a big influence on his future. His father, a teacher, passed away when he was young. Being the eldest child, Saxena had to shoulder a lot of responsibility. He did an electronics engineering course from Delhi College of Engineering, which he completed in 1990. He then qualified for both IIM–A and a master’s degree programme in an American University. He chose to be in Ahmedabad as he thought the US degree would not bring him any interesting work opportunity in India. “There was also a patriotic streak in me,” he says.
His entrepreneurial desires, however, had to take a backseat because he didn’t know where his capital would come from. So he signed up with Blow Plast as a marketing manager. This was the early 1990s, and MNCs were trying to establish their businesses in India.
Saxena received an offer from Citibank and, almost simultaneously, another from international food business group Sodexo which was looking for someone
(Chef Sanjeev) Kapoor had cookery books, a food channel and restaurants. The missing link was healthy food making accessories that could empower women. I focused on that... It was a challenge to convince (international manufacturers) that there was a market thirsting for quality cookware
who could set up and drive its Sodexo Pass business in India. Saxena chose Sodexo because it offered him a lot of independence. The Sodexo Pass soon became a household name — at least in the upper middle class homes — as most major Indian corporate houses built in Sodexo Pass entitlements in their employee compensation packages.
Saxena helped to extend Sodexo’s India footprint to the catering business and later into facilities management. In twelve years, Saxena was the CEO and MD of Sodexo in India, overseeing an organization of over 6,000 people. In 2006, he moved on as the head of Dubai-based Landmark Group’s restaurants and food courts business in India. He developed eight businesses including the master franchise for Yellow Chilli restaurants, Gloria Jeans Coffee chain and Fun City.
Three years into that, he saw an opportunity finally to do something of his own. He had seen India’s food journey for close to two decades, seen the changing tastes and lifestyles of people. He roped in Sanjeev Kapoor, who had become a household name thanks to the Khana Khazana programme. He had worked with Kapoor when he won the master franchise for Kapoor’s Yellow Chilli restaurant chain. Two others joined the venture — Frenchman Nicholas Grass and Italian Alessandro Giuliani, both big names in the global hotels scene.
“Kapoor had cookery books, a food channel and restaurants. The missing link was healthy food making accessories that could empower women. I focused on that,” says Saxena. Wonderchef scouted for the best cooking utensils and accessories across the world and began establishing relationships with international manufacturers. “It was a challenge to convince them that India was not just the country of ten well-known cities, that there was a much larger market thirsting for quality cookware and willing to pay for it,” Saxena recalls.
Kapoor’s image and the hard work of his team of 120 quickly spread Wonderchef across the strata of Indian homes. The products also carry long warranties of two years to 25 years, which lend a lot of credibility. “Now we tell the overseas partners to make cookware relevant for India. The wok we developed with Italy’s Ballarini or the dosa tawa or gas tandoor with other partners stand as examples of
this,” he says. ‘
Dileep
Athavale TNN TOI130508
No comments:
Post a Comment