Part A

"My vocation is to strive continuously, to reach excellence in all spheres of management, by weaving the threads of enterprise, knowledge, experience, ideas and tasks into a fabric that can be called 'management' ~ Mr Aditya Vikram Birla. True to this comment has been ABG's growth trajectory. The $41 billion-in-revenues group, India’s third largest private sector conglomerate after Tata and Reliance, is headed by billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla, with interests in telecom, financial services, metals, cement, chemicals, fashion, retail, fertilizers and so on. The fact that they have been delivering consistently in the current VUCA world, being a 150 year old Group is one of their strengths, with rich legacy of values and principles of doing business. the group has employees of 42 different nationalities in 36 countries, driving operations for the group.

The ABG product which has been close to my heart is Peter England. Acquired in 2000, it went onto become the best menswear brand capturing the trust and aspirations of Indian youth. The first gift I received from my father when I completed class 10, with 92% was a pair of clothes from Peter England. Since then the association of the brand and my wardrobe has been inseparable. The brand represents the growth of India, the economy and increasing international exposure as such; other than adding vivid shades to the lives of beautiful young population of the country. My professional career has introdced me to further nuances of ABG products - clothing, insurance, mutual funds, retail and telecommunication. As of today, I am a loyal customer to multiple brands and services of ABG. The story of changing ABG from a commodities player to a diversified conglomerate itself carries the leadership legacy and precision in strategic execution.

Part B

I hail from the district of Palakkad in Kerala. Born to parents after 10 years of their marriage, brought up quite independently as parents were busy with their professional career of that of veterinarians. I have seen my parents spend more than 30+ years of their lives in designated role with the department of animal husbandry, involving directly and indirectly in projects which would benefit the life of farmers and animals at large.

This has helped me develop an empathetic relationship towards fellow humans, which has helped me immensely at work. One of my work stints in Saudi Arabia had me to lead a team, with diverse nationalities. While I was returning back from a meeting, my mom called up to inform that my little sister had eloped with her love and got married; learning this dad has been feeling uneasy. I flew down to set things to normalcy. But it took me two years of mediation, conflict resolution and negotiation to bind the families together. I knew it would take time to do this; hence I relocated back to India, closer to my sister and parents. When I look back, the smile on their eyes were worth the efforts. It kinda demanded me to stand upto causes and help situations have happy endings; things we can strive for and certainly make a difference to.

Sreejith R Menon

Growing from Strength to Strength, the ABG story.