She too is turning guru. With Roda Mehta,
48, the legendary media-planner, severing her 24-year association with Ogilvy & Mather
(1997-98 billings: Rs 389 crore) last month, the fourth-largest advertising agency in the
country won't be the same again. But Roda herself is all set to make a go of her new
venture: an as-yet unnamed strategic marketing consultancy-a la MARG's Rama Bijapurkar and
HLL's Shunu Sen-that she is busy setting up. ''I will be working on turnaround problems
and marketing issues related to any category,'' explains the acerbic lady, who is
relocating from Mumbai to Pune, where her parents live, this month. While she has yet to
sign up any clients, they'll, probably, flock to her from both the corporate world and the
social sector. If, that is, everything goes according to Roda's plan...
They are changing the way
the world thinks about Asians. Six Indians--Deepak Parekh, 53, the
Chairman of the Housing Development Finance Corp. (1996-97 income: Rs 1,290 crore), as 1
of the 7 financiers; Dhirubhai Ambani, 65, the Chairman of the Rs
13,400-crore Reliance Industries, and
N.R. Narayana Murthy, 52, the Chairman of the Rs 260-crore Infosys
Technologies, as 2 of the 12 entrepreneurs; B.K. Syngal, 58, the Chairman
of the Rs 6,396-crore Videsh Sanchar Nigam, and Suresh Krishna, 61, the
Chairman of the Rs 326-crore Sundram Fasteners, as 2 of the 9 managers; and N.
Chandrababu Naidu, 48, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, as 1 of the 15
policy-makers-are among the 50 Stars of Asia, as sighted by BusinessWeek. These,
as the magazine says, are the people who are making a difference amidst the chaos...
He's learning to build a quality organisation. At the Rs 181-crore India
Pistons, when Chief Executive (Manufacturing), Anantharamakrishnan 'Ram'
Venkatramani, 30-the son of N. Venkatramani, the CEO of India Pistons-graduated
in 1992 as a mechanical engineer from the International University in London, he was
drafted to spearhead the company's iso-9000 certification drive. Even as that process
ends, Ram is going back to school. Last month, he left for Tokyo to attend a three-week
programme conducted by the quality guru, Yoshikazu Tsuda. His aim: to broadbase the
quality philosophy by launching a TQM drive. ''That's the approach to take for
excellence,'' says Ram. Totally quality...
He isn't one of those who merely eats
cricket and sleeps cricket-although he does endorse Coca-Cola. Cricketer Javagal
Srinath, 28, has turned hi-tech businessman too, signing up last month as the
Bangalore franchisee of the Rs 202-crore training company, Aptech Computers. If cricket
and computers met, it's because Net-surfing is his other passion. ''It's also time I
thought of a career after cricket,'' adds the overworked lad. Here's hoping nothing queers
the pitch for JS...
Quietly, in the wee hours of
June 23, 1998, the Chairman Emeritus of the Rs 6,000-crore RPG Group, Rama Prasad
Goenka, 68, left for Tokyo on an official visit to explain India's nuclear policy
to 8 of the biggest Japanese investors in the country. But why Ramababu, who is much
closer to 10, Janpath, than 1, Race Course Road? Because he was conferred Japan's highest
civilian award, the Order Of The Sacred Gold And Silver Star, by Emperor Hirohito, two
years ago. ''The government of India requested me to explain our viewpoint to the
Japanese. I went to do just that,'' smiles Ramababu. Mission impossible, did someone say?
She too is turning guru. With Roda Mehta,
48, the legendary media-planner, severing her 24-year association with Ogilvy & Mather
(1997-98 billings: Rs 389 crore) last month, the fourth-largest advertising agency in the
country won't be the same again. But Roda herself is all set to make a go of her new
venture: an as-yet unnamed strategic marketing consultancy-a la MARG's Rama Bijapurkar and
HLL's Shunu Sen-that she is busy setting up. ''I will be working on turnaround problems
and marketing issues related to any category,'' explains the acerbic lady, who is
relocating from Mumbai to Pune, where her parents live, this month. While she has yet to
sign up any clients, they'll, probably, flock to her from both the corporate world and the
social sector. If, that is, everything goes according to Roda's plan... 
They are changing the way
the world thinks about Asians. Six Indians--Deepak Parekh, 53, the
Chairman of the Housing Development Finance Corp. (1996-97 income: Rs 1,290 crore), as 1
of the 7 financiers; Dhirubhai Ambani, 65, the Chairman of the Rs
13,400-crore Reliance Industries, 
and
N.R. Narayana Murthy, 52, the Chairman of the Rs 260-crore Infosys
Technologies, as 2 of the 12 entrepreneurs; B.K. Syngal, 58, the Chairman
of the Rs 6,396-crore Videsh Sanchar Nigam, and Suresh Krishna, 61, the
Chairman of the Rs 326-crore Sundram Fasteners, as 2 of the 9 managers; and N.
Chandrababu Naidu, 48, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, as 1 of the 15
policy-makers-are among the 50 Stars of Asia, as sighted by BusinessWeek. These,
as the magazine says, are the people who are making a difference amidst the chaos... 
He's learning to build a quality organisation. At the Rs 181-crore India
Pistons, when Chief Executive (Manufacturing), Anantharamakrishnan 'Ram'
Venkatramani, 30-the son of N. Venkatramani, the CEO of India Pistons-graduated
in 1992 as a mechanical engineer from the International University in London, he was
drafted to spearhead the company's iso-9000 certification drive. Even as that process
ends, Ram is going back to school. Last month, he left for Tokyo to attend a three-week
programme conducted by the quality guru, Yoshikazu Tsuda. His aim: to broadbase the
quality philosophy by launching a TQM drive. ''That's the approach to take for
excellence,'' says Ram. Totally quality... 
He isn't one of those who merely eats
cricket and sleeps cricket-although he does endorse Coca-Cola. Cricketer Javagal
Srinath, 28, has turned hi-tech businessman too, signing up last month as the
Bangalore franchisee of the Rs 202-crore training company, Aptech Computers. If cricket
and computers met, it's because Net-surfing is his other passion. ''It's also time I
thought of a career after cricket,'' adds the overworked lad. Here's hoping nothing queers
the pitch for JS... 
Quietly, in the wee hours of
June 23, 1998, the Chairman Emeritus of the Rs 6,000-crore RPG Group, Rama Prasad
Goenka, 68, left for Tokyo on an official visit to explain India's nuclear policy
to 8 of the biggest Japanese investors in the country. But why Ramababu, who is much
closer to 10, Janpath, than 1, Race Course Road? Because he was conferred Japan's highest
civilian award, the Order Of The Sacred Gold And Silver Star, by Emperor Hirohito, two
years ago. ''The government of India requested me to explain our viewpoint to the
Japanese. I went to do just that,'' smiles Ramababu. Mission impossible, did someone say?