Mallya, Tipu & The Mahatma
At an auction in London in September 2003, an anonymous participant picked up the legendary Sword of Tipu Sultan, who ruled Mysore in the 18th century. The man’s identity came to light only when liquor baron Vijay Mallya, 54, displayed the sword in his flamboyant style at a media conference six months later in Bangalore. Mallya did an encore in 2005, when he snapped up a number of rare Tipu items for Rs 9.5 crore. Now he has picked up priceless memorabilia belonging to Mahatma Gandhi from a New York auction house for Rs 9 crore. While he may gift Gandhi memorabilia to the government, all Tipu articles are with him. “The number of items is sufficient for a Tipu museum,” he says. But, for the time being, the museum will have to wait. All Tipu articles are in San Francisco, not yet brought into India, for reasons of customs duty payment.
For a first generation entrepreneur, Vikas Rambal, 42, Chairman, Perdaman Industries, isn’t doing too badly, if one considers his recent announcement of setting up a Rs 12,000-crore urea plant in Western Australia’s Collie region. The obvious questions are: who is he and where’s he getting so much money from? “I had earlier set up a $700-million (Rs 3,500-crore) ammonia gas plant, but due to certain issues with shareholders, I sold it off,” he says. His share gave him enough liquidity, he says, to invest in real estate and stocks across the globe, which he capitalised in 2007. A keen sports buff (he’s eyeing a stake in IPL’s Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals), Rambal is also in talks with the Government of India to sell urea to the country.
Is sales more important or marketing for success of a brand? Good time to be asking VENKATESH KINI, 42, Vice President (Marketing), Coca-Cola India, considering that he’s established Thums Up as the #1 and Sprite as #2 brand within three years of taking charge of his role in India. “Every organ in the body plays a critical function. One can’t live without any… so sales is the legs and arms and marketing is visible only through ads, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he says. Few know that Kini’s soaked in the very essence of his industry, having worked on almost all the Coke brands for over a decade, and prior to that he’s spent time in marketing and sales functions at Asian Paints and ITC. A hard-hitting squash and tennis player, Kini should find his new role in Atlanta—as Global Vice President for Juice Marketing— only an easy game!
What does Reuben Abraham, 35, a professor at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, have in common with Sachin Tendulkar, Tiger Woods and Michael Schumacher? Well, they have all made it to the World Economic Forum’s list of Young Global Leaders for 2009. “It is a great honour and I hope to leverage the Forum and the network that comes with it to spread the message of my centre and of the ISB,” says an evidently upbeat Abraham, who is Executive Director of the Centre for Emerging Markets Solutions at ISB. He also serves on the global board of directors of George Soros’ Economic Development Fund. For now, though, he is in unwind mode and is off to South Island, New Zealand, with his wife, Petra Sonderegger, a Swiss national. The professor, who puts in at least 16 hours work each day, is surely going places!
Her team has given saas-bahu soaps a run for their money with bold programming concepts. Ashvini Yardi, 36, heads programming for Colors, which is currently a close #2, right behind STAR Plus and is raring to take on the numero uno position. Ask Yardi about her recipe for success and she says: “Our aim is to look for good, original and refreshing concepts that will create talking points for audiences even after the episode ends.” Yardi, who recently bagged the Media Personality of the Year award at India Today Woman’s Summit, credits her success to her 14-year stint at Zee TV. When she’s not thinking of new concepts and show formats, Yardi likes to spend all her time with her four-year-old son Vivan. That’s one hands-on superwoman, indeed.
