Mushy much
What would he not do to have you receive an Archies card? Afterstriking an exclusive deal with Hallmark Cards to open stores acrossthe country, Anil Moolchandani, Chairman and Managing Director ofArchies Ltd, is pushing his own creations for Rakhi and Holi, amongother festivals, through Hallmark stores abroad, especially in Asian-dominated regions. "Few knew about Valentine's Day when we sought topopularise it. We pretty much created Friendship Day in 1995 andhave now created Daughters Day, which is the fourth Sunday inSeptember every year," says Moolchandani. But why are his cards soheavy on mush and so low on intelligent humour? "I want to sellhumour, but many retailers do not care. They want cards that 'lookgood' as they sell I wish it was otherwise as I have such a hugesample of funny cards, but they keep getting rejected," he says. Youcertainly cannot fault him for not trying. After all, few know thathe even launched cards for gay people last year.
-Shamni PandeShe's the boss
So how did Sandeep Goyal make a reportedly neat pile of Rs 250crore by selling his 26 per cent stake to his joint venture partnerDentsu, the Japanese advertising major? Well, some answers might liewith his wife Tanya Goyal, 48, with whom he co-owns the Mogae Group.Few know about this media-shy high achiever, who has carved anidentity for herself. Before moving to her second job as the first-ever female management trainee at Swaraj Mazda, Tanya taught Mathsat Thapar University. In 1991, she set up Moga Consultants andlaunched her boutique recruitment business. She counts herself thefirst among independent, professional headhunters in the country. Adecade later, she worked as a consultant with Hewitt Associates.Sandeep, with her guidance, struck a JV with Dentsu and she tookover as Executive Director. She was on the board of all the sevenDentsu JV companies. Today, she still retains that title, isPrincipal Advisor to Dentsu and continues to sit on the board. Herstrategy is to "go by my instinct". But her husband clearly swearsby her judgment. "She restrained me when I wanted to bid for IPLthat has been good. But she cautioned me against two other ventures,which I did not pay heed to, and both have remained duds thus far,"he says.
-Shamni PandeHealth Stock
Long before he led the Securities and Exchange Board of India orSEBI, M. Damodaran was the health secretary of Tripura in the 1980s,a post that got him interested in rural health care. Now, along withDr Sabahat Azim, a former colleague from Tripura, he is looking toset up a chain of primary and secondary healthcare centres acrossIndia. "Most investments are taking place in tertiary health care.
But our focus is basic health care and those parts of India thatare underserved," says Damodaran whose younger sister is apractising doctor in Kerala. Their start-up, Glocal, has alreadyraised Rs 15 crore in funding and the two men now have plans ofopening over 2,000 healthcare centres across rural India over thenext five years.
-K.R. Balasubramanyam
Eye over the markets
Now a look at the chairman-designate of the Securities andExchange Board of India or SEBI, current head of the UTI AssetManagement Company and retired (voluntarily) Bihar-cadre IAS officerU.K. Sinha. The man, who will shortly replace C.B. Bhave at SEBI,managed to transition through three different finance ministers intwo different governing coalitions. "Sinha's best weapon is hisrazor-sharp mind. But an even greater weapon he has is theappearance of being harmless," says a bureaucrat. Sinha's plate willbe full from Day One what with the two leading bourses - the BSE andthe NSE - slugging it out in public, the controversy surrounding thethird exchange MCX and a number of pending regulatory and policyissues. In addition to his much-admired brain, Sinha, as the marketswatchdog, might need to exhibit some teeth.
-Puja MehraSmall is profitable
Paul Kerr, Chief Executive Officer of Small Luxury Hotels of theWorld, refers to his organisation as the "McDonald's of the smallhotel world". Membership in this small and exclusive club givessmall, boutique hotels the ability to reach out to millions ofpotential customers despite the seemingly high membership and annualfees of ?15,000 and ?13,000, respectively. The money might seem likea lot, especially when Kerr himself compares the brand toMcDonald's, but he insists it is a pittance. "Internet booking,property management and central reservation systems allow hotels tomanage their revenues better, all of which we offer," he says.Little wonder then that every year, he gets over 1,500 applicationsand fewer than 5 per cent of them make the cut.
-Anumeha ChaturvediOpening up art
As a young boy who spent his summer holidays in Mumbai, Amit Sooddid not have much access to art other than the odd museum. "We werenot a wealthy family, so seeing art when I was a child was noteasy," he reminisces. It was only when he ended up in New York whileworking that he was able to enjoy paintings by European masters andother modern works. After a while, Sood found himself at Googlewhere he discovered a shared passion for art with a few colleaguesand, thus, Google Art Project was born. "Many museums had alreadygone online, but they did not always use technology very well. Andthere was little or no collaboration in the online realm betweenmuseums," he says. The museums were more than happy to have Googleon-board, thanks to its army of engineers and innovative technology."Now, kids in South Asia, Latin America and Africa can see andexperience these works of art," says Sood. You can see Google ArtProject at www.googleartproject.com.
-Kushan Mitra
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