Inspiring Personality - Mr.Chandramohan – Arun Ice Creams:

09^th July’12:

SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR – Mr.Chandramohan – Arun Ice Creams:

I just read a wonderful article about the History about Arun Ice Creams and Its Founder Mr.Chandra Mohan !! Its taken from a Blog which describes about Mr.Chandramohan and his visit to their college function !!! What a man, we should read the life stories of the business people like him. I believe worth Sharing with u all :)

Here I Start:

A case was written about Arun Ice cream's ascent to glory . Mr.Chandamohan - CEO of ARUN ICE CREAMS, had dropped out of college decades ago and started the venture with a seed capital of Rs. 15,000 . Started off with manufacturing ice cream in a small factory and selling it fresh . He had competed against the Dasaprakash-es of Chennai . People in Chennai would be able to recall the decades old Dasaprakash hotel in Poonamallee high road . Had taken the ice cream to the neighbouring small towns with the positioning "Fresh Ice cream from Madras" .

He had hit upon the concept of franchising without even studying about it formally . Every kid in TamilNadu would be familiar with the neighbourhood ice cream parlour . Chandramogan gave insights about the consumer preferences . He was talking about the fact that in the 1980's ladies would not want to be seen (from the road) eating ice cream sitting in a shop . He had designed the shops keeping these things in mind .

For running the franchise, he chose people with modest educational backgrounds who had failed in the earlier businesses . He explained that the loyalty factor would be higher in this segment of the population . So much so that some of the franchisees had named their sons and grandsons as "Arun" !!!

He had survived the onslaught of MNC's like HLL which had tried to acquire the company .By that time, Arun Ice Cream was valued at several crores . A friend had suggested that Chandramogan sell it before the value gets eroded because of the competition .Chandramogan had explained that when he started the business, it was worth 15,000 and there was nothing to loose as long the firm was worth more than 15,000 !!! THAT was the guts with which he faced his formidable competitors.

He has come a long way since the time he started the venture . A professor asked him, on behalf of the students at that college where he has given his speech, about the qualities necessary for an entrepreneur . Chandramogan mentioned that different skills are required at different stages of the business .He explained that during the initial years he used to concentrate only on marketing .As years went by, he picked up finance (He underwent a short term management programme for executives many years ago) . Now, he is concentrating only on strategy and manpower management . And he means business !!! You must have seen him throw terms like backward integration, cost of capital, dept / equity structure, cost leadership, consumer behaviour with tremendous ease .

Another question he handled well was about the necessity of management education for being a good entrepreneur . He stated that perhaps he would not have taken the risks that he took if had been a management grad . And at the same time, he also agreed that a management degree might have accelerated his growth - saving him about 10 years .

Awesome isn't it ?

Source : hemuses.blogspot.in/