Foreign empires, Indian leaders

Manoj Kohli was in Africa recently — on a whirlwind business tour and not for the FIFA World Cup. In a little over 20 days, he hit 16 countries, holding up to six meetings a day. Kohli did manage to sneak into South Africa for the finals, though. Kohli, CEO (International) of Bharti Airtel, does not have an easy job ahead: Chairman and Group CEO Sunil Bharti Mittal has sent him to steer Zain, Africa's second-largest mobile telephony player, which the Indian company acquired in June this year.

Kohli has been asked to re-brand Zain as Airtel by October, reach revenues of $5 billion (Rs 23,000 crore) and double the subscriber base by 2012. Africa is completely new terrain for Kohli, who had visited it just once, in 1993, as a tourist. But the posting is what he had been looking for after three decades in Indian business.

Kohli doesn't mind his new schedule. "We need to have a good smell of our customers and employees there," he says. The 51-year-old, who happens to speak some French, the language in half a dozen African countries, represents an emerging breed of home-grown Indian professionals who are taking charge of big acquisitions abroad or of regions. Kamesh Goyal, Country Manager of Allianz, the insurance major, as well as MD and CEO of its Indian venture Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, is another home-grown professional who has had a stint in Africa. He represents a sub-set that honed its skills in India with local companies and is now playing a role in the global strategy of multinationals.

Goyal, 44, who completed his overseas assignment as Allianz's CEO for West Asia and North Africa just four months ago, says: "It didn't really make as strong a business case as we had thought it to be." Goyal had been given the assignment by Allianz's CEO Michael Diekmann in early 2008, months before the Lehman collapse hit global markets. Diekmann's choice had surprised many as Goyal had never worked abroad — he had been with New India Assurance Co., the government-owned general insurer, and later KPMG India, before joining Allianz as its second employee in India in 1999, when insurance was opened to private competition.

Goyal reported back to Diekmann with an interesting finding about West Asia and North Africa: even a substantial market share would give it very small business volumes because markets were fragmented, with sparsely populated countries. And insurance companies face a very high capital requirement and a tedious licensing process there. Goyal is today part of Allianz's international executive committee, which discusses strategy for the group.

Elsewhere, at the Vikhroli headquarters of the Godrej Group, Naveen Gupta is busy clearing his desk to take charge of its new Indonesian operations. Flagship Godrej Consumer Products has acquired the Megasari Makmur Group, a leading household care company there. The acquisition has made Godrej a name to reckon with in Asia's household insecticides market. At the Aditya Birla Group's headquarters some 15 km away, half a dozen top executives are missing: they have gone to Brazil, China, Indonesia, Australia and elsewhere to take charge as country heads.

Like Allianz's Goyal, Deepak Chandnani of Obopay Inc., the mobile payment solutions provider, is another Indian getting a place on the global stage of multinationals. In May, Obopay made Chandnani — who was already its President for Asia and Africa — President for Global Operations.

The next month, Lalita D. Gupte, a veteran of ICICI Bank and currently Chairperson of ICICI Venture Funds Management Co., made news when she was inducted into the board of French multinational Alstom in a nonexecutive role. She was already on the board of Nokia. In August 2008, Gupte's ICICI colleague Kalpana Morparia, who took over as JP Morgan's India CEO, got a seat on its Asia Pacific executive committee.

Obopay's Chandnani says all this reflects the recognition of Indian talent in the global marketplace and their adaptability in foreign territories. "Today, companies need the best talent," he says.

So, what gives the home-grown Indian professional an edge? For one, many are adept at dealing with global customers, suppliers and consultants, simply because many companies have such linkages.

Gupta of Godrej cites the entrepreneurial and structured strategic approach of Indian professionals. "That probably is a big plus point in delivering results," says the man who is the first Godrej professional to head a foreign territory. (Godrej's ventures in Britain, South Africa and Latin America are headed by locals.)

The experience of outbound Indian professionals will also help India Inc. find talent for its global ambition, says Santrupt Misra, Head of Human Resources, Aditya Birla Group. Misra and many high-flyers say Indian professionals find it easy to adapt to a new environment or culture because they are used to dealing with multiple languages and cultural diversity at home.

"It is also about the industry and the country," says Gupta. Indian companies have extensive experience in highly competitive businesses such as telecom and consumer goods, and the learning can be replicated in emerging markets that are similar to India. Then, Africa, where Airtel's Kohli is bound, or Indonesia, where Godrej is sending Gupta, are yet to become the stronghold of any multinational.

"There are similarities between India and Africa when you see the diversity, population, the middle class, young population and also urbanisation," says Kohli of Bharti. There is also the cost aspect. "It's a talent arbitrage," says a professional who was interviewed for this story. It is far more expensive to get a Harvard-educated professional than, say, an IIM graduate — who will probably deliver the same result.

But the advantages do not make the job abroad a cakewalk. "It's like wearing multiple hats," says Vijay Subramaniam, CEO of the International Business Group at Marico. He was sent out in 2006 with a mandate to expand international operations, and has delivered.

Subramaniam says understanding consumer behaviour is critical. Marico created its Parachute hair cream for West Asia, where coconut oils have a limited market but people have to deal with high chlorine content in water. Today, it has 20 per cent of the hair cream market there. Godrej's Gupta, similarly, plans to spend a few days in an Indonesian household, observing what products the family uses. "Unless you know how a consumer lives and uses a product, there is no way you can create value," he says.

India Inc. also seems to have realised the need for a long-term strategy instead of just acquisitions to enter new markets. As the Aditya Birla Group's Misra says of the executives posted abroad: "They are not going to manage any unit or a factory." They will be the group's listening posts, understanding the local market and growth opportunities. "Your own man can, perhaps, do a lot more fact-finding (than a consultant) and that knowledge remains with us," he adds.

JP Morgan's Morparia says today's world is all about better connectivity and flat organisations. "The information is so pervasive that the traditional command control structures don't work," says Morparia, who often walks down to another room for a conference with the Hong Kong office or headquarters in New York.

Will they make a difference? Following Goyal's feedback, Allianz applied the brakes on its plans to expand in West Asia and Africa. Marico's Subramaniam has taken the revenue share of the international business from a single digit to almost 25 per cent. That's what is probably expected from others.