1. How the career journey started? Or who inspired you to start business/ entrepreneurship?
I have been brought up in a middle class Maharashtrian family. In my growing years, it was imbibed that without good education, I would not get a good job. No body in the family said that I should get in to business. In the early years all I could think of was to get a good job, perform and grow in the hierarchal structure. During the college days, my college Ruia organized a career guidance cell wherein many ex students who were pure graduates (not engineers & doctors) interacted with my batch. That time in 1979; I made a decision that I would make my career in sales and marketing. I got my calling and got a direction to my ambition.
After my graduation I did a diploma course in sales and marketing. There were not many institutes offering MBA course. The diploma gave me my first job as Sales Officer in Kelvinator in 1981. Later on when I was in Garware Polyster, I got the admission at Jamnalal Bajaj where I completed my Masters In Marketing Management. I got my breaks; worked hard, climbed up the ladder fast and at the age of 34 I was a Vice President in a Birla company. The thought of doing business was not even remotely associated with me.
At the age of 43, I no longer wanted to work for any body. I had an idea that the business was shifting to distribution and it was increasingly difficult for the brands to handle small dealers directly. There were very few distributors with a professional organized approach to distribution. I saw a golden opportunity. When I discussed this opportunity with my friend and ex colleague Samir Shah, he said that I should straight a way start looking for the distribution opportunity and he would be too happy to join me in this business.
2. Share some info about your products and services here.
Thus started the beginning of our business. We christened it Market Movers (India). The name suggested that we would be the trailblazers in giving idea and shape to organized distribution in consumer durables. We thought that our mission should be:
We would have the best reach in Mumbai as a distributor.
We would have the largest entry-level product mix from amongst the brands because this range requires the largest reach.
We would have the most well defined dealer contact program so that every retailer will be visited once in three days.
We would offer the most innovative below the line promotion schemes.
We would be the leaders in launching new products that the retailers may not have retailed in the past.
We would be friend, philosopher and guide to help the retailers in making their business profitable.
We would be partners with our principals in formulating the desired local level strategy to enhance the presence and share of our principals.
3. What was the vision mission of the company? What exactly you wanted to do when you started your business?
We would follow ethical practices in our dealings to earn a reputation as fair businessmen. When we started out in 2001 in Mumbai, we got the distribution of LG. At that time, LG had a poor distribution set up but strong brand presence. All earlier efforts of making distributors had failed. We heard rumours that these guys are new; they would burn a big hole in to their pocket and vanish. But we worked hard and established a well-defined network. In that initial process, we took some time to understand the personality of each dealer. Learnt their buying habits and understood the financial potential of all of them. This helped us to fix credit limits so that we could manage our working capital effectively. The first three years were very difficult. The first challenge was to handle a large network that called for building a team out of nothing and the second challenge was finance. This business requires large capital and you cannot arrange it over night. Even the banks do not provide cash credit to new business easily. Building a team and arranging bank finance were the first hurdles and crossing them were really rewarding.
4. What kind of difficulties you had faced while starting/doing business?
We learnt following 3 lessons in this process:
The job of an entrepreneur is to get extra ordinary work done from the most ordinary person. The job content may not be creative. It would be routine. It will require a high level of commitment.
5. Share with our readers about discovery period when you were facing difficulties in your business?
One must have a well-defined incentive program in core area of activity that generates revenue. If you are sincere and transparent in your operations, it is easier to get bank finance even if you are new in your business.
Some of the difficulties we faced were way beyond our control. In the havoc of 26th July 2005 rains, we lost heavily as our stocks worth Rs 27 lacs got damaged and became unsaleable. The insurance claim was settled after a year. It was a very difficult phase, as our precious capital got jammed. Handling the insurance was a nightmarish experience and still a good learning curve. We have always been particular about strictly insuring our stocks and business premises. The other difficulty that we had to manage was that of the theft from our warehouse. We lost the goods, even though the culprits were caught. Dealing with the police and law is an experience in itself.
One requires being tenacious and patient when one has to go through such calamities. Even if you lose money, you cannot lose your heart. When we deal with agencies such as police and insurance, your ability to pursue them and still preserve your calm are very important. The other menace in this business is cheque bouncing. Many retailers habitually bounce cheques. All of them want to use your money as free working capital. Since we deal with small retailers, we learnt to take up the cheque bouncing cases under section 138 of criminal procedure and appointed a lawyer on a retainer ship. But we have to be careful. The lawyer is not a preventive measure. Your day to day handling of the network can reduce this problem but cannot remove them altogether.
In the last 9 years of business, we have discovered that building a stable relationship with your principals is increasing difficult. Every year they keep changing the distributors in the hope of finding Mr. Perfect. If we need to sustain our business and grow, it is not the brands that we handle, but the network that we nurture will help us grow in the business. Many brands come to us, leave us and then again come back to us. This is happening because the business is highly competitive and getting the shelf space at the retail counter is now increasingly challenging.
6. Share with our readers about your experiment period after discovery period?
All our energy is now directed to get this shelf space from the retailer. Some of the ideas we have employed are:
Display contest. The contest is designed in such a way that every body is a winner. Otherwise you will not get a spread in the market. Incentives on secondary sales. Because you sold the product, you will get the incentive on your next buy.
Piggy ride. Ride a slow moving product on the strength of fast moving product by offering better incentive on combo billing.
Similarly in a business where the products are in the class of serious purchase intention, the dealer’s advice to the customer plays an important role. This calls for developing a strong relationship with the dealer. Therefore dealer promotions take form of tours, New Year parties, gold scheme etc. we arrange such schemes regularly and budget at least Rs 5 lacs for such expenses annually.
7. What are your future plans? Or now what is your vision for next five years?
Today my firm is already one of the top 5 distributors in Mumbai. I do not look at distribution as my only business. If you want to be successful in your business, then you must plan to build an organization. That organization must come before you in your goals. Every business throws opportunity in to another business. We must learn to grab them. We plan to make Market Movers (India) in to a mega entity in the business of distribution. The retail landscape is changing very fast. The way this business is done is going through changes. We wish to be the change agent. We wish to bring many new ideas and tools to this business. In the next 5 years, I would like to see my firm tripling the business and entering new forms of retail management using web based platforms.
8. What will be your advice/suggestion for new entrepreneurs for starting new business?
For a professional the transition from employee to an entrepreneur is a big leap. Based on my little experience of being on both sides of the table, I would like to suggest and share the following:
Start the process of unlearning what you have done as a professional employee and convert in to finding how you as a businessman will respond.
For a businessman every action has a monetary consideration. Therefore assign a money value to every action or decision.
What is it that is unique and different compared to the existing businessmen in your chosen business. You will find that your experience and expertise are better than traditional businessmen. Most businessmen develop tunnel vision and are averse to do anything new and different. You will score here. If you do not have a unique plan or approach, you are likely to fail.
Have patience. Every body fails in the beginning. But if you were firm in your belief, every failure would be a stepping a stone to success. Do not ever allow yourself to get in to doubts about your own capability.
You require good friends and motivators. Find partners who carry the same degree of enthusiasm. No body makes it alone in the world.
Be rational and practical in your approach.
Be passionate to the extent of becoming paranoid about your goals. Dream with your eyes open.
God helps them who help themselves.
9. LinkedIn URL: http://in.linkedin.com/pub/raja-malushte/19/732/217
10. Website : http://www.feelgoodbazaar.com/
