Sanat Kothari
Head of Operations
Sanat Kothari is a strong business and packaging development professional who graduated from Nagpur University and The Packaging School with a demonstrated history of working in the packaging and containers industry.
Sanat Kothari engages in an exclusive interaction with the CEOInsights Magazine. Here’s the snippet.
How would you define Lipi International as an organization and its current position in the market?
Lipi is an exponential, agile organization that, if needed, can leverage technology and flexible resources to dominate its market with fewer means than old fashioned companies. Lipi strives to have a massive transformative purpose a pull for retaining and drawing top talent, which is vital in today's hyper competitive talent market place. It also acts as a stabilizing force during periods of rapid growth and enables us to scale with less turbulence. We desire to capture the hearts and minds of those both
inside and outside the organization, setting out to solve big problems. This brings purpose and meaning to our work and gives us a compelling reason to get out of bed in the morning and face another day. It makes employees proud to work and makes consumers and customers feel good about using our products and services.
Could you tell us about the major factors you consider while suggesting your services and solutions to the clients?
Undoubtedly, Central India is one of the most favorable locations on the map for trade and commerce due to its reach from all four directions. Thus, Lipi has a location benefit that helps it reach customers pan India. Family businesses are the primary form of business worldwide, yet very few of them last for a second generation, let alone a third. Lipi has been successful for more than three generations while also sustaining a shared identity as a family by creating continuous value across generations. Apart from experience and a diverse portfolio of products, we also have a motivated, highly skilled team that never stops learning.
Could you tell me about the sustainable practices that Lipi International has adopted in its operations and the company's vision toward a sustainable future?
My inclination has always been towards growing the business by achieving the balance between growth and sustainability to reduce environmental impact. For the same, we have implemented a solar plant equivalent to total operations requirements, saving 2-3 percent annually, and currently, 50-70 percent of the Plant runs on solar-powered energy. We installed an Effluent Treatment Plant(ETP) for all toilet wastes and have undertaken rainwater harvesting, and 100 percent of that water is used to refill groundwater. 95 percent of the generated scrap and waste is sent for recycling and retreating. We've been working on reducing polymer products and shifting to Aquos products for easy recyclability and degradability. We have tried to continuously develop more sustainable packaging options for our clients.
You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future
Could you tell us about the major factors you consider while suggesting your services and solutions to the clients?
Undoubtedly, Central India is one of the most favorable locations on the map for trade and commerce due to its reach from all four directions. Thus, Lipi has a location benefit that helps it reach customers pan India. Family businesses are the primary form of business worldwide, yet very few of them last for a second generation, let alone a third. Lipi has been successful for more than three generations while also sustaining a shared identity as a family by creating continuous value across generations. Apart from experience and a diverse portfolio of products, we also have a motivated, highly skilled team that never stops learning.
Could you tell me about the sustainable practices that Lipi International has adopted in its operations and the company's vision toward a sustainable future?
My inclination has always been towards growing the business by achieving the balance between growth and sustainability to reduce environmental impact. For the same, we have implemented a solar plant equivalent to total operations requirements, saving 2-3 percent annually, and currently, 50-70 percent of the Plant runs on solar-powered energy. We installed an Effluent Treatment Plant(ETP) for all toilet wastes and have undertaken rainwater harvesting, and 100 percent of that water is used to refill groundwater. 95 percent of the generated scrap and waste is sent for recycling and retreating. We've been working on reducing polymer products and shifting to Aquos products for easy recyclability and degradability. We have tried to continuously develop more sustainable packaging options for our clients.
The company's vision is to set up an inhouse Solid Treatment Plant(STP)to treat all solid waste and to go from 95% to 100% revival of scrap. We aim to be carbon neutral by 2030 to align our goals with the world economic forum and the Indian government's vision.
Reflect on some of the toughest challenges you have encountered in your journey so far. What’s your success mantra?
Post COVID-19, the inflationary market led to high raw material and production costs, which is a challenge to gauging future market trends and planning future operations. COVID-19, the brought along a plethora of issues. Still, we strived to maintain the same revenue by revamping employee SOPs to ensure a more effective output and efficiently using available resources to continue delivering pan India. We also developed multiple supply chain streams for easy and fast deliveries with a focus on reverse logistics, implemented a proper warehouse management system and now aim towards Just In Time (JIT) procurement for our operations to improve working capital cycle rotation.
Our success mantra as a company is persevering and continuously evolving in the market, understanding the requirement and learning and unlearning, making our processes exponential and dynamic for exponential growth. We foresee an opportunity to plan and provide a one-stop solution for all the packaging needs of our clients. We intend to fulfil the needs of all primarysecondary to tertiary packaging in the longer term which gives us a vastly untapped market where clients will be willing to buy from us.
Sanat Kothari, Head of Operations, Lipi International
Sanat earned his bachelor's degree from Nagpur and holds a diploma from The Packaging School, USA. He also took Executive Education from IIM Ahmedabad under its YEP-Young Entrepreneurship Programme and was the youngest participant. Commerce is not only his passion but also his vision. He likes to travel, read book, and stay updated on the latest trends and technology.
•Favorite Book: Autobiography on SteveJobs by Walter Isacson, Exponential
Organisation, Elephant and Cheetah
•Favorite Cuisine: Indian cuisine
Awards and Recognition: 1superscript rank in VIA Vidharbha Udyog Gaurav Awards 2021–for Medium Scale Industry, various printing packaging product awards for innovations and ideas
Reflect on some of the toughest challenges you have encountered in your journey so far. What’s your success mantra?
Post COVID-19, the inflationary market led to high raw material and production costs, which is a challenge to gauging future market trends and planning future operations. COVID-19, the brought along a plethora of issues. Still, we strived to maintain the same revenue by revamping employee SOPs to ensure a more effective output and efficiently using available resources to continue delivering pan India. We also developed multiple supply chain streams for easy and fast deliveries with a focus on reverse logistics, implemented a proper warehouse management system and now aim towards Just In Time (JIT) procurement for our operations to improve working capital cycle rotation.
Our success mantra as a company is persevering and continuously evolving in the market, understanding the requirement and learning and unlearning, making our processes exponential and dynamic for exponential growth. We foresee an opportunity to plan and provide a one-stop solution for all the packaging needs of our clients. We intend to fulfil the needs of all primarysecondary to tertiary packaging in the longer term which gives us a vastly untapped market where clients will be willing to buy from us.
Sanat Kothari, Head of Operations, Lipi International
Sanat earned his bachelor's degree from Nagpur and holds a diploma from The Packaging School, USA. He also took Executive Education from IIM Ahmedabad under its YEP-Young Entrepreneurship Programme and was the youngest participant. Commerce is not only his passion but also his vision. He likes to travel, read book, and stay updated on the latest trends and technology.
•Favorite Book: Autobiography on SteveJobs by Walter Isacson, Exponential
Organisation, Elephant and Cheetah
•Favorite Cuisine: Indian cuisine
Awards and Recognition: 1superscript rank in VIA Vidharbha Udyog Gaurav Awards 2021–for Medium Scale Industry, various printing packaging product awards for innovations and ideas