Tata Play CEO Harit Nagpal teaches business lessons through a new book of stories

Geeta asks James to pass her some banana fritters as she digs into an ackee and saltfish breakfast that has become her staple food every morning. Her mind goes back to the last five years that the two of them have been living and working in Jamaica.

James grew up in the quiet beach town of Brighton in the UK and went to the University of Bath for his MBA. That’s where he met Geeta, who had come to the UK from Assam, a hilly state in the eastern region of India. After graduation, they both found jobs in London and moved in together.

For ten years, Geeta worked at a telecom firm as an analyst. Her job involved identifying cohorts of customers displaying similar behaviour patterns. The analysis helped the commercial team retain the customers who were showing signs of unsubscribing by offering them discounts or moving them to less expensive packages. It also helped the sales team identify customers who were ready to buy higher-end products and subscribe to more services. This practice of upselling played a huge role in increasing the firm’s revenue.

In the same ten years, James changed his job twice. He first worked at a personal products and cosmetics company and later at a packaged foods firm. During his tenure there, he added many more variants, colours and flavours to the product lines, which helped in revenue growth for both firms.

The common thread in their work is the desire to provide products that cater to the needs of low-paying customers, leading to revenue growth for their companies and generation of profits for the investors. Over the years, James and Geeta have often, at the dinner table, thrashed out issues they face at work, strongly believing that such discussions help in keeping their relationship exciting.

Being avid fans of cricket and admirers of Chris Gayle from the West Indies, five years ago, they decided to go to Jamaica for a vacation, more as a pilgrimage to Gayle’s hometown. However, fate had much more in store for them.

While in Jamaica, they accidentally met Coomar, a third-generation Indian migrant whose grandfather had come over as a farm labourer. Coomar’s father had bought land in Jamaica and started cultivation of sugarcane. When Coomar took over from his father, he had switched the crop type from sugarcane to bamboo, which he thought was easier to grow.

Over the years, he had purchased the neighbouring fields, becoming Jamaica’s largest bamboo farmer. At his plant, bamboo was converted into pulp to be sold to paper mills to make newsprint. The evening before James and Geeta were supposed to fly back to London, they visited Coomar’s house. Over drinks, the conversation became serious and turned to Coomar’s business.

“Coomar, you are sitting on a gold mine with your acres and acres of bamboo trees but you are just wasting it all away by restricting your activities to only selling pulp,” Geeta had exclaimed.

“Geeta, growing things is all I know. That’s what my father did and that’s what I do best. We are farmers, not manufacturers.”

“But what you don’t realise is that it’s the manufacturers who are cornering the big bucks out of what could be your value chain while all you’re getting is some loose change. Coomar, do you even realise how much money the guys who buy bamboo pulp from you are making by converting it into paper, medicines, kitchenware and whatnot? Do you have any idea?”

“That’s because, like jewellers who know how to take a piece of metal and convert it into beautiful jewellery, the people I sell my bamboo pulp to know how to manufacture it into something useful. They deserve the money they make.”

“But even you can do that, Coomar!” said Geeta in protest.

“Guys, I know what I know. B2B is my strength. I sell to converters who understand the B2C space. For me, that’s a black hole and I don’t want to lose my shirt doing what I don’t understand.”

“You can always hire people who know the B2C game and make them do the work. I mean, James and I work for firms because we understand the B2C game. We help them in transforming their raw materials into finished products that they can sell directly to the consumers.”

“Hmm … So, are you guys willing to put your money where your mouth is?” questioned Coomar.

“What do you mean? We don’t have any money to put into your business.”

“I’m not asking you for money. Your money is your time and expertise. Are you willing to leave your jobs in London, shift to Jamaica and help me build a B2C organisation and business?”

“Are you kidding? We don’t understand the bamboo business.”

“You did not understand the telecom, food or cosmetics business either when you started working in such companies. But now you do. That’s because you understand business and value creation. Come, join me as partners and let’s build value together.”

“You can’t afford our salaries,” joked Geeta.

“No, I can’t. But I can offer you a 20 per cent stake in the business for the time you spend working for me. If over the next ten years, together we end up building the kind of business you both have been talking about for the last week, I’ll transfer 20 per cent of the business in your names at the end of the ten years. Deal?”

Excerpted with permission from Adapt: To Thrive, Not Just Survive, Harit Nagpal, Westland.