Chauhan looks "outside"

Ramesh Chauhan is a name to reckon with. The “Thumbs Up” man or “Parle” or “Bisleri” man; he has various huge feathers in his cap. He single handedly gave conglomerates like Pepsi and Coco Cola a run for their money in India. And the drinking water brand, Bisleri, is now a generic name for any bottled drinking water.

A legend in his own right, 77 years old now, he wants to call it a day and hang his boots. Though there is still a lot of thunder left in him, it knows its time to hand over the reins. He has only one daughter, Jayanti; though she has joined her father’s business, her heart is really not in it and has made it clear that she does not want to run it. Her heart lay in fashion and travel. She remains a director on the Board and Chauhan after retiring wants to pursue CSR and water conservation.

So with no one to taken onto to the helm, Chauhan is doing what most family run businesses would never do – hire a professional CEO. He is said to be scouting around the right person to run his company – currently Bisleri is four companies but it will be restructured and all will come under one consolidated company to be run the professional CEO.

It is great that Chauhan is looking outside for the right and perfectly qualified person rather than look for an ill-fitting person, only to ensure that he is from “inside.”