Lessons from the CEO: How Harsh Mariwala turned a mistake into his success mantra

Marico chairman Harsh Mariwala believes in sticking to one's core competency in business, but also in the need to reinvent yourself as an entrepreneur.

Sometime in 2003, Marico's trademark hair oil business was flourishing in the domestic market as well as closer international ones such as the Middle East, Nepal and Bangladesh. However, the company wanted to expand. "At that time, we felt we could leverage on Ayurveda," recalls Harsh Mariwala.

With little expertise in the area, the chairman of the consumer goods company went off to the US and identified a New York-based company that was making "very good, highend products on the principles of Ayurveda". "But it was a B2B business model; they were selling to the spa industry. This was not our core competency. So, we invested in that company," says Mariwala, sitting in his roomy office with a terrace garden in Mumbai.

While the business grew to some extent, Mariwala admits that it didn't leverage on "our strengths". Add to it the distance, and the venture was proving to be unviable. Finally, Mariwala sold it off. The mistake, however, came with some insights.



Like oil and water
"There is a learning that needs to be done when you are entering a business that's not your core business," explains Mariwala. "Looking back, we should have invested in some other category because B2B and B2C are very different. So, what we learnt from this, we implemented it in other markets where we acquired some brands."

Giving an example, Mariwala says they expanded to pre- and post-hair wash care, hair grooming and personal grooming. To achieve this, he acquired a brand in Egypt for hair creams and hair gels, an ethnic hair-care brand in South Africa and a male hair grooming brand in Vietnam. "These were businesses similar to ours…And that should have been the way earlier as well, rather than investing in a B2B ayurvedic business that catered to the spa segment," he says.

Shift in mindset
With nearly three decades of business experience, Mariwala has seen his share of young and emerging entrepreneurs. Most of them are good at building companies, he says, but are left behind when it comes to scaling up.

"Many founders have ideas that have created a right to win, but they are not able to succeed because they have had problems with their own partners or they are not able to delegate," he says.

The problem, he explains, is more about leadership style and not being able to attract talent, both of which go hand in hand. "You need good talent to delegate. If you delegate to bad talent, you can't say 'Oh look, I delegated to them and suffered'. Also, the entrepreneurs are not able to change themselves. You need to reinvent yourself if you want to grow. If you're an entrepreneur, what took you up to a certain point may not take you to the next ones," he says.

Acing the shot
An avid golfer, Mariwala has also learnt management and life tips from the game. The sport, he says, has taught him to "handle complexities". "Multiple variables in the game result in whether you succeed or lose. You have to go on identifying what made you win or why that shot became a good one. That part about analysing and concentrating on the weakness or area of strength is one aspect. The other is the relationships that are built while playing the game. It's not so much of business, but more to do with life," says Mariwala, who reserves his weekends to play golf.