Rakesh Shah wants his company to be one of the 50 best companies with a high level of respect and credibility. The pace at which the company revived from ground zero six years ago shows the top management can drive its business on a high-speed lane, thanks to the plan for rapid expansion and diversification by making the best use of its emerging
production capacity and existing R&D skills.
Rakesh Shah has a wonderful history as a successful entrepreneur, very interesting and inspiring. First of all, he hasn’t inherited a business legacy, making his entry into the business more challenging for himself. Nevertheless, things haven’t been so tough, thanks to his sagacious approach and precise calculation. “Though I belong to a service class
family, doing business was my passion since the day I started my service as an office-boy at a very early age,” he reminisces. With passion, he found a way through his friends, who were engaged in the chemical business. As the first step in business, he entered into the trading of specialty chemicals. Trading enabled him to learn the character of the market, nature of buyers, movements of product etc. In 1996, he found an opportunity to buy out a small chemical unit. That marked another turnaround in his entrepreneurial career. In the manufacturing industry, the success of an entrepreneur, without professional academic knowledge, a working experience and exposure in any manufacturing company and a business inheritance, speaks an incredible story. “Business was not a small challenge. It becomes a bigger concern when you face an unforeseen disruption,” he says while recalling the fire that gutted his manufacturing unit. However, from all such crisis, if you are an honest entrepreneur help will come from one or the other way. His strategy of approaching everything systematically with consistent efforts has made him run the business smoothly and
transformed the legacy of service class background into a brilliant entrepreneur. He makes an infallible calculation on the capability of the company in the context of market reality. The trading business taught him how to manage the credit cycles and maintain a margin. In business, still, tough times come and go. He had his toughest time in 2015 when fire gutted his acrylic emulsion manufacturing unit. He felt having lost everything that he had gained from his many years of hard work. Every crisis brings a new lesson and determination. “But with the grace of God and supports of Union Bank of India, my friends and colleagues down the line, I could come out of the crisis and become stronger,” he says while revisiting the short-circuit induced fire accident. “Hadn’t the bank stood with me in that trouble, the whole story of mine would have been different,” he remembers. “I wouldn’t have been here to share what you may call a success story,” he adds, with a smile of hope. Luck accompanies hard works at the right times. Together drives an entrepreneur with integrity into a success. The success story of Rakesh Shah explains this very truth. He answers every question in a simple, transparent and straightforward manner. In business also he maintains the same approach. That could be one of the factors, which contributed to his ability to smoothen every crisis and finally to reach the point that he used to envisage.
Rebuilding his factory within four months after a major fire and rapid business growth thereafter speaks for it. The growth ahead will be faster, because of faster expansion and a carefully chosen diversification plan. His expectation cannot go wrong. The company aims to be a leader in water-based emulsions by continuous improvements, innovations and partnering with its customers. “I dream about making my company one of the 50 best-listed companies on the bourse,” he avers. If all the plans fall in place precisely on a timeline, Ambani Organics will be a ₹1000-crore turnover company, one of the most sought-after in the mid-size category in future. With the right business model, import substitute products and with potential for exports, its aim of making itself one of the fastest growing business entities in India is achievable.
The company took only five years to grow its turnover five-fold after the revival from the ground zero. The company manufactures water-based specialty chemicals used in industries like paper industry, paint, textile, carpet, adhesive, etc. The company has the Global Organic Textiles Standards (GOTS) certification for some of its textile industrial chemicals. Given the potential of the company’s products, which are import substitutes and also diversification, the year ahead will see its turnover soaring comfortably from ₹100 crores to the target of ₹1000 crores. While the rapid expansion is set to add to the size of the bottom line through the existing client base, diversification will open new revenue streams, rapidly adding to the size. The company has a long-term contract with a US company, AggreeBind for producing specialty emulsions used in road construction. The major Indian customers include Atul Industries, BASF, Pidilite, Sidharth Paper. The company has a textile distribution network all over India. Since the company is into specialty
products, its business remains unaffected by any crisis in the textile industry. Like other industries, Ambani Organics did
not need to wait for the market condition to improve to estimate future revenue. That was the reason it didn’t suffer any business loss during the pandemic period. “We restarted our operation on 18th April 2020, immediately after the first phase of the lockdown. Ever since our unit is smoothly operational. The pandemic did not impact our business,” he avers. Unlike other companies’ working, Ambani Organics thus does not depend on the economy to turn around for revival of business. It is usually the capacity utilisation that determines the turnover of a company. In the case of Ambani Organics, after all, there is always a ready market for all its products, the top line is predictable as the company is operating on a predictable line. “We are not concerned with other issues,” he points out.
