Claim OwnershipLife stories of Indian and South East Asian business leaders
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© 2025 Life stories of Indian and South East Asian business leaders
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I have written two life story books on Indian business leaders and one on South East Asian business leaders. The first is Added Value - the life stories of leading South East Asian business people published in 1999 by Murmeli , the second is Added Value - the life stories of Indian business leaders published in 2010 by Roli Books (https://rolibooks.com/) and the third is Profiles in Enterprise - inspiring stories of Indian business leaders published in 2015 also by Roli Books.
Many people these days like to listen to audio books, podcasts and interviews rather than, or in addition to, reading books, magazines or newspapers. There were so many inspiring and extraordinary stories told to me by the subjects of my books that I thought podcast fans might like to hear the best of them in this podcast - https://lifestoriesofindianandsoutheastasianbusinessleaders.buzzsprout.com.
27 Episodes
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The first thing that I felt on setting foot in 4 Mangoe Lane in Calcutta in 2012 where Williamson Magor has its premises is the enormous respect in which its Chairman, Mr. Brij Mohan Khaitan, was held. You could feel this respect from the security guards at the gate all the way through to the receptionist, lift operator and his secretary and on into Mr. Khaitan’s office where we met. Immediately on meeting Mr Khaitan I was struck by the peace that seems to emanate from him. ...
I received sad news this week that Arunachalam Vellayan, the former Chairman of Murugappa and a 4th generation member of the storied business family and a great grandson of the founder Dewan Bahadur Murugappa Chettiar passed away in Chennai on Monday 17 November at the age of 72 after a long illness. This is my interview with Arunachalam Vellayan in 2012 when he was Chairman of Murugappa and he gave me a fascinating glimpse into the family history and the strategy the family has pursued...
This is my interview with Anand Burman in 2012 and which is a chapter in my 2015 book - Profiles in Enterprise Inspiring stories of Indian business leaders published by Roli Books. There will certainly have been changes in Burman Limited and the Burman family since the date of my meeting with Anand Burman but, in my opinion, the history of the Burman family is fascinating as is the way the family has successfully managed to make the transition from a small family business into the giant it is...
As will become clear as you listen to this chapter, not only did Dr Reddy have a brilliant scientific mind but he was able to pick and develop drugs which were "winners". The world was indeed fortunate that his cousin persuaded him to study chemistry rather than history! The company he founded is now the 10th largest pharma company in India and in the top 50 world-wide - https://www.drreddys.com/. This episode is my reading of the chapter on his life in my book Added Value (Roli B...
Dr Chaijudh's life is an illustration of how traditional Asian values, including respect for one's parents, can often lead to children following a career path chosen by one's parents, rather than what the child wants to do. Dr Chaiyudh wanted to be inolved in agriculture as a career but instead became a medical doctor following his father's preference. However, once his father had passed away, he chose business over medicine and, through a combination of luck in meeting Dr. Giorgi...
Deepak Parekh, is both charismatic and modest at the same time. His life story is an encouraging example for young people everywhere who aspire to a successful corporate career in demonstrating that one does not have to rank first in class to achieve that corporate success. Whilst Deepak became a chartered accountant providing him with a core skill and experience, his corporate success came from his people skills, integrity, common sense and a deep instinctive understanding of the banki...
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (born 23 March 1953) is the founder and chair of India's Biocon Limited ( https://www.biocon.com). Biocon is a global biopharmaceutical company changing patients’ lives in over 120 countries by finding new and affordable ways to treat diabetes, cancer and autoimmune diseases. Her life story is an inspiring one of not just persevering, but succeeding, as a woman in what was then very much a man's world in Australia and India. This episode is my reading of the chapter on her...
Gunupati Venkata Krishna Reddy (born 22 March 1937) is a philanthropist and entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of the GVK Group (https://www.gvk.com) a major Indian business conglomerate with a predominant focus on infrastructure development. He also heads GVK EMRI, the corporate social responsibility initiatives of the GVK Group. As the President of the All India Senior Tennis Association and a tennis player himself, he has been a keen supporter of budding tennis talent. This...
Like all of the interviews for my books you may find it strange that I find each one unique in different ways. This is the only interview where I was first interviewed by the subject and, having satisfied him of my bona fides, it is one of the most unusual interviews I have ever done. It extended over several hours as, once Ciputra got flowing with his life story, he did not want to stop. But, as he had many meetings that day, he took me to them and this allowed us to continue in ...
Rahul Bajaj who passed away at the age of 83 in 2022 had a larger than life personality and, like many of those who I have interviewed for my life story books, was a clear business thinker. He was Chairman Emeritus of the Bajaj Auto empire founded by his grandfather, Jamnalal Bajaj and which was developed to become one of the largest Indian auto groups during his and his father's generation. He was awarded India's third-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan in 2001. Most...
Julius Tahija who died in 2002 at the age of 86 was an extraordinary man. As you will hear he followed a number of core principles which served him well throughout his life as a soldier (awarded the Netherlands Military Order of William during WW2 being that country's oldest and highest military honour) as a politician (holding several Ministerial posts in East Indonesia pre Independence) as a businessman as an investor in many businesses (via his holding company P.T. Austindo Nusantara...
Ela Bhatt was an absolutely extraordinary women who passed away in 2022 at the age of 89. The Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) she founded against strong opposition now has over 3.2 million members across 18 states in India. SEWA advances the rights of women workers in the informal economy such as those selling fruit and vegetables in the street. Not only did Ela have to fight long and hard to establish SEWA but that is not the only fight she had as it took many long years for h...
Following receiving his undergraduate and post graduate degrees in Maths and Statistics at Annamalai University in his birth State of Tamil Nadhu, a young Bala Balachandran followed the path of many bright young Indians in the 1960s and moved to the US where he had a very successful academic and management consulting career ending as Professor Emeritus of Accounting Information and Management at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (which was ranked the #3 U...
AVS Raju (born 1937) is certainly one of the most unique businessmen I have met. Not only is he obsessed with punctuality in a country where being on time is the exception rather than the rule but he is also a deeply spiritual man and a devout follower of the late His Holiness Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba who passed away at the age of 85 in 2011. So devout in fact that AVS has written over 17,000 short poems on this guru. When I interviewed AVS in 2007 his poems had been compiled to cre...
Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy (born 20 August 1946) is an Indian businessman. He is one of the seven co-founders of the leading global technology company, Infosys and was at different times its chairman, chief executive officer, president, and chief mentor before retiring and becoming chairman emeritus. Murthy has been listed among the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time by Fortune magazine. He has been described as the "father of the Indian IT sector" by Time magazine and CNBC for his c...
Professor Swaminathan died at the age of 98 in 2023. He was an extraordinary man and it is said his skills in genetic engineering and his powers of persuasion made famine an unfamiliar word in Asia. There is a memorable story of his encounter with the formidable Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who initially refused to allow him to take up what for him was the role of a life time as Director General of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. The few words of adv...
Sengham Phinith was born on 2 December, 1940 near the Lao capital, Vientianne. He trained as a civil engineer rising to Vice Minister of Construction before being falsely accused, dismissed and exiled to a remote region for four years. The way he dealt with this cruel experience is inspirational. On his release in 1988 he founded a civil engineering consulting firm. He passed away on 31 January, 2022. This chapter appears in my book, Added Value -the life stories of leading ...
Shahnaz Husain has built an enormous health care business from very humble beginnings starting in her New Delhi home. It is an extraordinary life where she was born into a conservative Muslim family, married at 15 and became a mother at 16, spent time in Tehran before being ordered to return to India by her father when he heard that Shahnaz and her husband might take up Iranian citizenship. That was when she started her business which was an immediate success. Her father did not a...
Vijaypat Singhania, often known as VPS, has led an extraordinary life which is unique in many ways. He was born into a prominent and successful Marwari "joint family" whose original business was founded over a century ago, experienced an unhappy childhood at the hands of a "wicked stepmother", was betrothed at 12 to his future wife who was 9 at the time and somehow managed to combine a career as an industrialist with his "addiction" or obsession with flying a huge range of aircraft from micro...
There is a chapter on U Nay Oke's life in my South East Asian Added Value book. However, I also interviewed U Nay Oke a few years ago for my Myanmar Oral History podcast ( https://myanmaroralhistoryprojectlifestories.buzzsprout.com) and, although it is a far longer interview than what is covered on the chapter on his life in the book, I thought you would find it interesting in providing an insight in the life of post WW2 life in Myanmar. For those who do not have time to listen to...
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