Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 17: When the Lions' Den, an upcoming reality show, was conceptualising, the key question they had to answer was, " What problem are we trying to solve? "The answer to this question would define the design of the show, the method of evaluating start-ups, and most importantly, the Lions they would partner with, who will define the success of the entire effort in the mid-to-long-term.
India is a growing hub of start-ups. Startups have become a choice of significant proportions of the younger India, whether starting a start-up or working at a start-up. However, only 2 percent of start-ups survive, and less than 0.2 percent scale up.
Hence, the key was to shortlist the Lions—lions who would not only invest in the start-ups but also ensure they survive and scale up.
During this process, they met Dipak Sanghavi, MD and CEO at Nilon's Enterprises Private Limited, the largest maker of Pickles, Ginger garlic paste, and tooty fruity in India.
The story of Dipak's life, where he got into the business at the young age of 24 due to the untimely death of his father, in a company doing 8 crore turnovers to building it to almost 500 crore business in Food FMCG is an inspiring one.
‘Success gives you confidence, but failures give you growth’ —- Dipak's leadership style is strongly shaped by the various failures he encountered in his journey. He believes that for a business, it is very important to have clarity of what not to do, almost as important as what is to be done.
Dipak, along with his team, grew his business by almost 50 percent CAGR for the first 8 years, then dropped to 8 percent CAGR for the next 8, and is now back at 24 percent CAGR.
‘What gets you here will not take you there’—One of the key lessons that Dipak learned was that smaller businesses are run by art (magic); it is a few people who do the heavy lifting to ensure they survive and reach a point. However, once a business becomes large, scaling up requires science (logic). Many organisations are not able to make this transition.
Dipak's understanding of business, surviving it and then scaling it, what to do and what not to do, being relevant always, and his ability to narrate the story and set the narrative are some of the points that made him the obvious choice to be one of the Lions at the Lions' Den show.
As Dipak says, lions are the kings of the jungle, but not all lions who are born become kings. The cubs have to survive Hyenas, some other animals, and the lions themselves. Only those lions who can do so end up becoming the kings of the Jungle.
The Lions' Den show is excited to have Dipak as a Lion, who would be a key contributor in ensuring the cubs (Start-Ups) turn into Lions themselves.
Get ready to Roar!