‘I like to be continually challenged’

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: to another group. Soon I wasn’t enjoying myself as much.”

In 2000, Kapoor got an offer from Timex and it was just what he wanted: a new challenge. So he moved back to India. “It was in pretty difficult circumstances that I joined Timex. My predecessor had been asked to go, a lot of senior management had gone and the company was running into huge losses. I knew it was a troubled business, but I also knew the brand had potential.”

Kapoor also admits that he wasn’t aware of the degree of the problem but once he had taken the plunge, there was no getting away from it. “I found a lot of energy in people. Adversity, I think, creates great work environment.”

In 15 days, as Kapoor puts it, he was totally immersed in work. “I tried to get totally caught up with what was going on. And it was very exciting. We had to change the brand, change the product, relook at the kind of product we wanted to design and hire new designers. You had to give everyone hope and keep all the fears inside. You had to be completely convinced and convince others that we would pull it off. I guess self-beguilement leads to self-fulfillment. So, you hypnotise yourself into believing. Also, I never even considered that failure was an option.”

All the talking did help. The first fiscal, 2001, showed a loss of Rs 48 crore. The next year, he brought it down to Rs 32 crore. By 2004, the company had broken even. In fact the company, by then had enough confidence in Kapoor to move him to Hong Kong to take care of five countries and a year later the entire Asia Pacific region. 2007-2008 closed with revenues of Rs 136 crore from India.

Ask Kapoor what keeps him going and pat comes the reply, “The sheer challenge of something new. I like to be continually challenged.”

Kapoor is now settled with his wife (Anjli) and son (Roahan) in Hong Kong, which like a lot of foreign countries has a considerable number of Indian professionals. “I guess people realise that Indians make good managers, they work well in complex business environments and that there is pretty good level of education here. Every sector is seeing a huge influx of Indians. Sometimes being outside India, you a prouder Indian.”