The Disruptive Visionary Jain trains his vision on becoming a global phenomenon and delivering world-class products
By Deepa Vaidya
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Varun Jain, CEO, NV Group, son of renowned spirits maker, Ashok Jain, Founder, NV Group, Delhi is carrying forward a 25-year legacy that his father started. Jain grew up visiting office meetings and his curiosity about their family business drew him to it.
Following in his father's footsteps, Jain, "Launched my Smoke Lab during the during COVID times and also worked on global expansion for the same. Identifying a need gap in the vodka market and launching a vodka while everyone was aiming for gin."
This bold move also explains his operating style. "The new school includes free thinking, fresh ideas, collaborative, disruptive, digital footprint and a robust brand portfolio. The old school is about control, setting business processes, paper work and product build-up," says the 38-year old.
"But inspiration is always him and how he has built an empire from scratch and sustained it so beautifully in a highly competitive environment," he adds.
Implementing a different operating style, what things has he changed and what has he retained? Jain says, "I have retained the values of social responsibility, perseverance, quality and changed the culture so that it can become a harbinger of ideas and new innovations."
His present position has not been without struggles. Says Jain, "It takes time and a lot of time till you establish yourself as a leader. And people only believe you or trust you, when you put in the hard work and effort to make the business succeed."
It was difficult to introduce changes in the family business that took years to build. "There was a backlash on many things but my father kept his trust in me, which enabled me to build a brand of my own and effectively contributed to everything else at NV Group. Now when he sees the change, everything just seems worth it," he says.
In keeping with the times, Jain is digitalising the business and making it ready for the current tech world by, "Getting a new age team and keeping out-of-the-box digital media creativity going. Relevance of digital media to create impact with the current set of audiences is of utmost importance and we work on campaigns and ideas specifically for that."
He plans to power the family legacy by, "Taking everything forward and giving NV quality products, its due global recognition. I aim to build a portfolio that shines in India and abroad."
About their growth plan for the next five years, says Jain, "Going global is the key focus area for growth. We will be all over the world then as an 'Indian Spirit Manufacturer' giving amazing quality products to brands. Apart from that, we intend to build our portfolio aggressively to cater across all segments and in various categories."
NV Group : Facts
· Age - 38
· Current turnover – INR 973 crore (NV Group)
· Number of employees – 650+