Anu AgaCompany: Thermax
Career: A businesswoman by fate, who changed an ailing company to one with profits of Rs 281 crore
The year 1996 marked the beginning of the reinvention of Anu Aga. Her husband, Rohinton Aga, passed away suddenly, leaving Thermax, the company he transformed from a small boilermaker into a leader in energy and environmental solutions, in Anu’s hands. This was a crucial period for Thermax as the company was in the midst of going public. A mere 14 months later, Anu’s 25 year old son Kurush died in a fatal car crash. If this wasn’t enough to bring Anu Aga’s life to a shuddering halt, Thermax began to unravel at its seams.
The culture that Rohinton Aga had built within Thermax apparently couldn’t deal with the complexities of an unplanned succession. A host of diversification into other areas such as co-generation of power, finance and software either went belly up or began to flounder. Also, industries that relied on Thermax’s products such as capital goods and textiles began to see a downturn, further affecting the company’s revenues even as costs were increasing. The company’s market cap nosedived from Rs 990 crore in 1996 to Rs 186 crore in 2000.
Today, Anu Aga is a posterwoman for Indian entrepreneurs and worth a whopping $1.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Thermax’s turnover has ballooned to more than Rs 3,246 crore. Its offices are sprawled across the globe in China, the UK and the US as demand for its heating, waste heat recovery and waste water solutions has been robust. From an abysmal Rs 13 crore loss in 2001, Thermax posted a net profit of more than Rs 250 crore in 2008.
How could Anu Aga accomplish all of this, especially in the face of such overwhelming tragedy? Aga turned to Vipasana meditation after her son’s death, which gave her the courage to pick up the pieces and move on. Aga had originally joined Thermax in 1985 as an HR head, but didn’t have much of a role in the operations of the company. “My corporate life lasted only 20 years,” says the 65 year old Aga. “I never intended to work in the company; I was interested in social sciences and ended up in the corporate by default.” Nevertheless, she had to galvanise herself into action. Aga sacked the entire board including daughter Meher Pudumjee replacing them with fresh members in an effort to turn the culture of the company around. She pruned employees, cut unnecessary investments in non-core businesses and hired the Boston Consulting Group to restructure the company.
Despite her legendary success with Thermax, Anu Aga has always harboured another passion inspired by Kurush. “For the past two years, education has become my priority,” she says. “This is where the company can make a difference, and it was my son’s wish that I did something for children.”
She has convinced the Pune Municipal Corporation that Thermax be allowed to adopt a government school from this year. Vidyaniketan, which comprises the best students from 26 government schools in the Pune region, will be supported by the company for schooling up to the 10th standard. This programme is an initiative of the Thermax Foundation the CSR arm of Thermax. Together with Akanksha an NGO specialising in mobilising funds for educating children Thermax is also training teachers who will work in government schools.
Anu has also conceptualised a programme called ‘Teach for India’. The concept first began in the late 1970s in the US. Wendy Kopp the founder of ‘Teach for America’ realised that if graduates were trained to teach and financially aided, they would go out and teach low-income communities. Thus, children in these communities could be helped in realising their dreams of going to university, and perhaps, then making a difference to society. “This programme will be launched in India next year,” says Aga. “I am busy travelling across the country to convince universities to realise the potential of improving our teaching skills through this programme.”
Sitting in a green carpeted room in Thermax House in Pune, Aga is busy making calls to various corporates in an effort to convince them to support her cause. She says Kopp, who she knows personally, and Shaheen Mistry of Akanksha had inspired her to bring this concept to India. “I have been asked to be on the board of various firms. But I have said no to all of them. Instead, I am on the boards of various NGOs,” she says, laughing at the hassles of entering corporate life again. She also keeps herself busy by campaigning for women’s rights. The company for the past three years, has spent 1 per cent of its net profit each year on CSR activity. What happens to Thermax while she is neck deep in education issues? “Don’t worry,” says Aga. “It’s in Meher’s hands. When she took over the company in 2004, she was hesitant. But now she won’t give it back to me even if I wanted it!”
Under Meher, Thermax has gone through a second phase of growth. Initially, this chemical engineer from Imperial College, London, stayed away from corporate life, sighting her two children as priority. But on realising that her mother had had enough of helming the company, she stepped in to fill her shoes. Meher is focused on turning Thermax into a company driven by research. “Green technologies are the way forward for Thermax,” says Meher. “We need to spend more to innovate and with Dr Mashelkar, scientific advisor to the government who is now on the Thermax’s board our direction towards research will be enhanced.” Thermax’s fate lies in how its leadership continue to innovate and grow. If Meher has her mother’s grit, resolve and nerves of steel, Thermax will be in more than able hands.
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