How homegrown brands are leading the charge in modern India

At the e4m Pride of India summit held in Chennai, leaders from different sectors sat together to discuss their learnings, achievements and strategies to build a homegrown business that can promote Bharat around the world.

The panel was moderated by Suresh Seshadhri, Business Editor, The Hindu. The panellists were Harish Manian, Group CEO MGM Healthcare; Gurukeerthi Gurunathan, Co-Founder and CTO, CaratLane; Venu Srinivasan, MD & CEO, Leo Coffee; Balaji V, Director, Repose Mattress and Dr. Suresh Ramnathan, Dean, GreatLakes Institute of Management.

Starting the discussion, Suresh asked, “In Tamil Nadu, which is almost called the capital of medical tourism and health care, how do you ensure that you differentiate yourself?”

Answering the question, Harish spoke about his journey in marketing healthcare. He said, “Interestingly this concept of marketing in the healthcare industry has been recognized as a taboo. I always remember one point - If the product is bad whoever comes can’t market it. For us in MGM, what we got right was the product, what we got right is the first product we launched, and we got our technicalities and positioning right.”

“MGM stands for Mahatma Gandhi. To set it apart from the different MGMs across the country and create an identity with brands with the same name was a challenge for us. So, getting the product and the positioning right is what helped us set apart and that's how we have created a dent in the industry.”

Going forward, Suresh asked Gurukeerthi about how is omnichannel working for CaratLane, especially for something like jewellery. “We were not omnichannel, that’s the big insight we have gotten working in the industry. We started as a digital-native company in 2008 with vision of selling jewellery online. We wanted people to buy diamonds online, but the biggest learning came in 2012 when we realized that you can’t just have a website and sell a product, there needs to be a touch point. People need to know that this brand is real. Jewellery being a category where there are a lot of inferior-quality products, the trust factor has a bigger role to play. So, you need to win the trust.”

“We first opened an experience center in Delhi, it was a simple touch point. Then we realised that this is the way forward for us. We started understanding that there is a lot of interplay between the consumer and the internet. In 2016, when Titan made a strategic investment in CaratLane, the trust factor amplified a lot on the brand.”

Speaking about running a legacy brand and shaping things up with the changing times, Venu said, It is a legacy brand, it comes with its challenges. I took over in 2011, I’m the third generation in the family in this business. we were a Chennai-only brand, and for the last 100 years, we never ventured outside Chennai. In those days, coffee was consumed primarily in the South. Even today South dominates. So, when I came in, the immediate challenge was to move out of Chennai. Also, the legacy brought challenges and preconceived notions. It took about 7-8 years for me to truly get things on track and launch new products.”

“We never raised any capital from outside, it's a family-owned business. One of the points that I want to raise today since we are talking about brands of Bharat is that it starts with the capital. If you can manage your resources and have your capital, then you have the freedom to do whatever you want.” 

Talking about his business, Balaji said, “The problem is the mattress is something people spend ⅓ of their life on but they don’t give the importance it deserves. For example, when you buy a mobile phone, there is a lot of research before buying it, but that’s not the case with mattresses. We are educating people on the importance of mattresses. We made efforts in the approach of our brand positioning.”

Lastly, speaking about creating and building an institute and making a mark amongst the sea of schools out there, Dr. Suresh said, “We set up the institute in 2004 as a school with a vision of a global mindset. It is our firm belief that today’s managers need to be equipped to handle any situation, anywhere. There was a lot of innovation in making us. Even though we are 20 years old, we disrupted the industry.”

Further in the conversation, Suresh asked Harish about how he keeps the checks and balances in place ensuring the stickiness of people. Harish replied, “Our industry is the least priority on anyone’s bucket list. When I am running a business, I don’t have a margin. In my business, the consequence is death. So, if I mess up anything, I might end up killing a patient and that’s huge. For my checks and balances, my audit mechanism is quite high and we comply with the world’s highest standards which are available today.”

Continuing the discussion, Suresh asked Venu about how he sees the likes of Starbucks, Venu said, “Frankly, I don’t see Starbucks as a competition because in a way they are helping us widen the consumer base. As Starbucks opens more stores, they are bringing in consumers. They are at the top-funnel, we at the lower end is a home-brand so traditionally our coffee is bought for the kitchen. Coffee drinking evolves with age, so we want to be at the bottom of the pyramid and wait for the customer.”