Aphotographer by training, Raaja Kanwar has worked with none other than Vogue magazine, considered by some as the Bible of the fashion industry. And it is indeed not difficult to imagine this over six feet tall, striking and stylish 37-year old young entrepreneur fitting right in the world of glamour, luxury and lavish lifestyles.
However, one does not have to spend too much time with Kanwar, the elder of the two sons of Apollo group chief Onkar Singh Kanwar, to figure that behind the youthful and fun- loving facade is a brain that is ticking at razor sharp speed, an eye that is taking in every detail and an ability to smell opportunities and take risks. As we sit chatting in the corporate lounge of a five star hotel in the country’s capital, he acknowledges a number of people. It seems evident that the young Kanwar has been spending his time networking and is a man on the move.
Raaja returned to India from the US in 1993-94 to set up Apollo International, a firm that now functions as the holding company for a robust international trading platform besides interests in gaming, logistics and UFO Moviez, the company?s digital movie foray. Being tech-savvy, he jumped right into the flavour of the season ?software and then was one of the first movers in the online lottery business. The gaming business did not do as well because of restrictive state laws but Raaja is still hopeful that it will catch up as the Indian laws open up. Having burnt his hands several times and having tried this and that, the young leader seems to have finally got his bearings right with UFO Moviez. At last count, the company had alreday digitised over 800 cinema halls.
So has he changed as a person and entrepreneur over all these years of being in business? ?I am more of a nuts and bolts kind of a guy now. Earlier I would think of the bigger picture, but now I have learnt to pay greater attention to details,? says Raaja. He gives the example of his earlier company Dusk Valley, a software firm he started on his return to India in early nineties at the peak of the software revolution. The company went down after a few years of operations.
?Those people were much behind their times. I was a little hesitant to interject having just landed and all these people had fancy IIT-IIM type degrees. I presumed that I could trust them with knowing what they were doing, but was proven wrong. As a consequence, I now look into every aspect of business, thoroughly research its viability and only then get into it,? he says. This lesson has been a key in Apollo International entering the logistics business. ?On some of my visits to China I saw how the country’s infrastructure was changing. I could foresee that India would also need similar facilities going forward and wanted to invest in various sectors.
We did comprehensive studies and found that sectors like roads, airports and rails were either too crowded or governed by too many government restrictions. We thus decided to enter the logistics business. We could see that the market largely comprised small time operators and was highly unorganized and we could add value to the same,? says Raaja now the seasoned business-pro.
He does not have a management education but one cannot figure that out as he effortlessly fields questions on his business strategy, expansion and future targets. ?I met some one from one of the Ivy-league business schools like Harvard and Wharton for breakfast a little while ago. He asked if I had an MBA degree? I did not. But when he learnt that I had run a software firm and had seen it close down. He said that anyone who has established firms, run it and has seen why it did not work has all the management degrees one needs,? says Kanwar.
He is now considering joining business executive courses at Harvard Business School for refreshing and updating his business skills. ?I have worked for over 13 years now. I now want to meet more entrepreneurs and share their experiences for even greater clarity in business execution going forward,? he says.
Raaja says that he has changed in other ways as well. ?Earlier, I was a very soft guy and found it very difficult to fire employees or tell people their mistakes. Now I have no such inhibitions. I am still generous when it comes to genuine needs and concerns, but am tough on slackers and those that are looking for a free ride,? says Raaja. He says that he has also become better at handing crisis. ?Things still go wrong, but now I am more in control. I know what to do about the problems,? he says.
Does he think he had an advantage being born to a business family and having an entrepreneur like Onkar Singh Kanwar as his father? ?Definitely, I could tap into an available organized business structure and did not have to set it up from scratch on return.There were a number of people to help me whenever I needed advice or was stuck with execution. My father has been ever supportive. He has never insisted that I join the traditional tyre business. He is also very receptive to new ideas and technologies. I had thought that perhaps it will be a little difficult to sell him the digital cinema idea. He proved me wrong.He even sent me to his friends in the movie business like Yash Johar who gave me further insight. Now too, my father is on all my company boards and we seek his blessings before starting any enterprise,? he says.
So what is his own management style like? ?We have a very informal work atmosphere but are not for mediocrity. I follow an open door policy. There is no ?sethji? culture. I have made sure that employees also partake in wealth creation. In all my companies, I have brought in leaders like Sanjay Gaiwad and Capt Kapil Anand with equity participation. Our employees also have stock option. Here I want to emulate Narayan Murthy and create many millionaires like Infosys has,? says Kanwar.
But still there must be some issues that must stress him out? ? I don’t stress out now. One only stresses out when one cannot see a solution to the problem. I can now put my finger on solutions,? he says. Are there any leaders he draws inspiration from? ?I like Steve Jobs for his innovative outlook. Closer home, Sunil Bharti Mittal is someone I look up to. He is also a mentor,? says Kanwar.
We persist and ask him what he does to break stress patterns and chill out? ?I am traveling all the while. So when I am in India, I tend to stay at home and spend time with my wife and my two sons. I also like to experiment with food so we go out to different cuisine restaurants. Whenever I visit a new city I ask the hotel concierge to tell me about the best eating spots.? Raaja has among other cuisines also tried some rather unusual exotica like snakes and maggots for food.
According to Raaja’s employees what sets him apart from other business leaders is his sense of humour that makes working for him both fun and rewarding. At the same time, they say that Raaja is very approachable and down to earth. They also admire him for his guts and the ambition to make it big on his own, something that Raaja confirms when he says, ?I want to grow as big as as Apollo Tyres, the business my father started on my own. I want to take Apollo International businesses like UFO moviez and our logistics business to similar sizes.?