With an experience of over 25 years and a degree from the Wharton Business School, Mr. Ajay Kapur, SIMSR Alum of Batch 1989–91, is currently the Managing Director and CEO at Ambuja Cements Ltd.
Favourite Movie: Dil Chahta Hai
Favourite Holiday Destination: Switzerland
One Word/ Line you say the most: Customer is God
Favourite Quote: “Love the life you live, live the life you love”
Role Model: Narayana Murthy
Favourite Book: Stop worrying and start living by Dale Carnegie
“Believe in yourself. Even as you strive for higher goals, stay grounded.”
Q. You have been awarded as ‘Asia’s Most Promising Leader’. Can you share with us the experience and level of effort that led to this honourable recognition at the global level?
A. We are a fairly big organisation. Our market capital is close to $8 billion today and we engage over 14000 manpower (Direct/Indirect) for our daily operations. To make this large organisation effective, we continuously work on building effective teams. I have many colleagues like me who give 100% and continue to give their 100%; and our predecessors too who have built the company. Our vision is to be the most competitive and sustainable company. We value our global hat. We look at sustainability, health and safety, commercial transformation and branding. Also, over the years, brand Ambuja has been built by successive teams and leaders. Two years ago, we released the very engaging ’Khali’ campaign. We are constantly trying to get closer to the customer. We always try to keep our cost under control. So believe in empowerment. In today’s times, you cannot just look at profit alone.
Q. Mid-career you enrolled at the Wharton School of Business for its Advanced Management Program. How important is this act of learning, after all the industry experience?
A. I passed out of SIMSR in 1991 and went to Wharton almost two decades later. When I reflect on this, I realise my thought process was very different. I had some experience by then but the idea was to go and spend time with global leaders. The professors at Wharton were experts with very rich experience. Some of the participants themselves were CEOs and CXOs of global companies. You also get the opportunity to interact with owners of some of the biggest companies. There is a lot of opportunity to network and be part of work groups where you are coached and also get to coach. It is also a time to take a break and reflect. You also pick up from what’s happening around the world; and once I returned, I started implementing some of these learnings at Ambuja. It was a very valuable and extremely interesting learning curve.
Q. Your advice to young alumni starting out on their career?
A. Believe in yourself. Even as you strive for higher goals, stay grounded. Along with this, the corporate world needs a lot of energy, so they should keep a healthy body for a healthy mind. It is not an easy journey but with values and patience they can achieve their goals. Finally, it is all about attitude. The greatest leaders in the world did not necessarily go to Harvard. Each one is a leader – take time to find out your true potential.
Q. Can you share insights into the journey of the past two decades with Ambuja – where you joined as an executive assistant to the then MD to now being the MD yourself?
A. When I joined Ambuja at the age of 27, it was my third job – following short stints with Indian Hotels and Citibank, respectively. At that time, Ambuja was small with just one plant in Gujarat. This break worked well for me – I wanted to do more in a smaller ship than get lost in a big one. I am fortunate to have worked with leaders who had an open mind and were visionary in their approach. I was a young man who picked up a lot of knowledge and as the company grew, I realised my roots in this company were getting deeper. So I do feel that I have become rooted in the right values. I got a vocation which was channelizing my positives and developing my negatives.
Q. What are the significant learnings in the two years you spent on SIMSR campus?
A. To establish one’s fundamentals and to build a network of friends.
Content courtesy: Alumni committee, SIMSR