CEO Insights India

Indians are generally known for their excellent taste buds and changing perceptions. At home, they crave restaurant style food away from home, they miss mom's recipes. Give them a packet of savoury snacks, they'll prefer something healthy hand over a bowl of healthy salad, and they'll seek taste! Here is Suhana Spices from the house of Pravin Masalewale Food Enterprise to quench this contradictory appetite of our people. Under the able captainship of Anand Chordia(Director-Technology & Innovation), the company also strives to be technologically and digitally excellent and help society. The company is envisioning a Cleaner, Greener, Healthier, Sustainable and Prosperous India under its non-profit wing The EcoFactory Foundation (TEFF).

Extreme determination, courage, focus, and hard work these four aspects describe the journey of Anand. His humble and never give up attitude has laid a foundation for his entrepreneurial journey. He has been through a unique journey and gained the wisdom of thoughts, principles, and strategies indeed, there is a lot to learn from him. His voyage stands as an inspiration to many who want to outshine. In fact, he is a growth master who incorporates great strategies to stay relevant in business by ensuring employee retention, people-centric initiatives, and more.

The valuable nuggets from this maven reap win-win situations for both people and clients. Following are the excerpts of an exclusive conversation between Anand and CEO Insights. Hope our endeavours will be helpful to many budding leaders in the FMCG sector.

Brief us about your journey of being a third-generation entrepreneur.
A family business is not a safe shelter, it is more of a responsibility to sustain and grow the business to greater heights. I joined the company with a lot of eagerness to learn and was like any other employee. Basically, I was in the right place for my career growth and proving my potential.

Leveraging my knowledge in product creation, technology & management, I and my team were able to successfully restructure the family business of spices and pickles into an International brand and turned it into a successful case study for Agribusinesses. Today, with 3,000 tonnes of spices per month, our wide range of products

comprise spice mixes, pickles, and instant cuppa snacks which are conspicuous by their presence in small towns,cities' grocery stores, departmental stores, online grocery platforms, and even on the shelves of malls, in 21 countries, across five continents.

Our research and development center is well-known as the innovation center and we believe that innovation should be applied to satisfy customer needs. I believe that money and fame are a by product of a perfect innovative and enterprising ecosystem.

Highlight your expertise as a business leader and the skills that you are levering for your success.
As a person driven by innovation and creativity, I love to bring unconventional strategies for business success. I am into public speaking and mentoring and have been a good orator carrying over 18+ years of experience in business leadership. My expertise is widely inclined in business dynamics and strategic thinking. I am an optimist who believes in motivating the young generation for building a better nation.

Highlight the milestones you cherish the most in your professionaljourney.
As the Director - Technology & Innovation of major brands under the umbrella of Pravin Masalewale (Suhana, Ambari, Pravin, Toofan), I was able to convert this face-decade old family business of spices and pickles which now has become a legacy. We established a prominent brand of Suhana Spices that in no time has now become a household name and launched over 200 products that include various types of Indian traditional foods, spices, instant mixes, an array of pickles and many more which are market leaders.

Over time, we have initiated a holistic approach to sustainability like a waste to wealth empowering farmers green buildings, industrial revolution 4.0 in the agriculture Industry, and social upliftment around SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) at multiple locations we have been encouraging emerging young food scientists by mentoring and supporting innovations in the food and agriculture sector, agripreneurship, and startup initiatives copiously.

Would like to know about your brainchild Farmers Empowerment verticals of the business
Founded in 2017, The EcoFactory Foundation (TEFF-our NGO), is taking steps towards a cleaner, greener, healthier sustainable, and prosperous India. Its aim is to provide sustainable lifestyle solutions to rural and urban communities. Through this, we have established an Urban gardening and farming center and successfully launched India's first “Shashwat Bharat Krishi Rath”. It is first of it's

kind mobile knowledge centre which demonstrates to the farmers the importance of Sustainable farming, skill development & Rural entrepreneurship opportunities to give them additional income.

I have seen the business evolve with a lot of hard work and struggle from my grandparents and parents.

After some years, I joined the business and launched 'Suhana', a global brand offering very innovative products in the niche.


Which role of yours are you the proudest and happy about?
The interesting part of my role is innovating and bringing creative strategies. But one of my favorite thing to do is mentoring and shaping young minds and making them ready to face the world. I have given several keynote speeches at various prestigious events and was tagged as an `influential speaker'. I was honoured to be as invited as a `Chief Guest' and `Guest of Honour' and rhetorician at several prestigious Institutes in India.

Hon. PM Shri. Narendra Modiji’s visit during Global Ayush Investment & Innovation Summit, Gujarat 2022

What were the key drivers that you deploy to ensure that the company meets its short/long term needs?
In all my assignments one of the key mandates given to me was to transform the existing traditional business model into a digital enterprise. This involvedlooking beyond pure traditional transformation and to drive enterprise level digital initiatives for making businesses future ready.

Today's digital technologies are evolving rapidly and youngsters are playing a crucial role in a lot of developments. Setting up several niche centers helped us in tapping the potential of the right strategies and innovation to meet our goals.

Anand Chordia, Director - Technology & Innovation, Suhana Spices
Anand has a bachelor's degree in science majoring in Plant Biology from Fergusson College, Pune. He has also completed a post-graduation in food science from the University of Auckland

Currently,Anand is heading the Innovation, Production, Purchase & Projects at Suhana Spices and other brands under the banner 'Pravin Masalewale'

He successfully established India's first ever Waste Management Park and also launched the unique sustainable farming skill development and rural entrepreneur ship center to uplift the livelihood of rural India.