Nadir Godrej, the head of the Godrej family, was born in 1951.
He was the youngest of two children.
At the dawn of Independence, Nadir’s father worked for the family business, which was first started in the late 19th century by his granduncle and grandfather.
A wealthy Parsi family from Bombay, the genesis of the empire began with Ardeshir Godrej revolutionizing the lock-and-safe industry.
Even today, the Godrej locks and almirahs are a quintessential part of Indian consumer culture.
In 1897, a legacy had begun forming – a legacy that Nadir Godrej and his family would continue to temper more than 50 years later.
Between Nadir and his brother, Adi stood a difference of nine years.
Adi left for America for his further education, and wouldn’t return until 1963 when Nadir was 12 years.
In 1963, Adi was a young 21-year old man who’d already finished his Bachelor’s and Master’s.
Nadir would only join the business at 26 in 1976 after prestigious education stints at MIT, Standford University, and Harvard Business School, earning himself two Master’s degrees.
The Godrej’s were an academic family.
In 1933, Burjor Godrej, Nadir’s father, left India to pursue an education in Germany at a time when the Nazi regime was at its peak.
Seven years later, in 1939, the British Consulate summoned all Indian students to ship them back home.
War had been declared!
But in 1949, Burjor went back after 10 years to finish his Ph.D.
He had 10 years to write his thesis.
In Berlin, he was given one month to finish!
Not all the Godrejs had a passion for academics, though.
Burjor’s brothers had a different scholastic trajectory all together.
Sorab Godrej, Nadir’s uncle, did his BSc at the behest of his family.
From a very young age, Nadir was deeply influenced by his hardworking and threateningly intelligent father.
If there is a regret Nadir had, it was that he didn’t do research at MIT, a cradle of innovation even then.
All this exposure, and the scientific curiosity his father instilled in him, reflects in the way the @GodrejGroup functions today, at the forefront of innovation and change.
It wasn’t just the men in Nadir’s life that impacted him.
His mother, Jai Godrej, had a profound influence on him, too.
She was an English teacher.
In the mid-1960s, Jai joined summer school at the University of Oregan to study Child Psychology.
During India’s struggle for independence, Nadir’s grandmother would publish poems for magazines, which she would recite to him, a memory still dear to him.
Even Jai would have her short stories published later. It was quite a literary family!
Nadir’s written poems about both his uncles, too.
He says Naval, once, had been stabbed by ‘80s union leader Dutta Samant’s henchmen.
Having lost too much blood, a timely transfusion had saved him.
But 10 years later, the very same transfusion would kill him due to a disease the donor had carried.
In 1976, Nadir returned to India.
It would be another year before the Emergency imposed, would cease.
At the height of Emergency, Adi had called Nadir saying he really needed him.
It was all Nadir needed to hear to return home.
The @GodrejGroup had begun to grow leaps and bounds once his brother joined it.
But the real boom took place in 2000 after stringent liberalization loosened the chokehold the Indian government had on businesses.
After years of struggle, the @GodrejGroup expanded into Godrej Industries, Properties, Consumer Products, Agrovet, Nature’s Basket, Infotech, Efacec Automation, and Robotics, Godrej & Boyce, and independent company Geometric.
It's easily one of India’s biggest corporate empires.
Today the @GodrejGroup continues to grow strong as ever with both Adi and Nadir at the helm as Chairman.
A young color chemist named Lewis Berger, started manufacturing in Europe, 'Prussian blue' using a secret process that every designer and householder coveted.
Mr. Berger perfected this process & art of the blue color, which was the color of most military uniforms of that time.
The history of Berger Paints India Limited as a company started in 1923 as Hadfield's India Limited- a small colonial venture producing ready-mixed stiff paints, & varnishes.
It was set up on 2 acres of land in one of India's first industrial towns, Howrah, Bengal.
Gautam Adani, Founder, & Chairman of the Adani Group, didn’t inherit his power & position.
His parents, Shantaben and Shantilal Adani, had migrated to the city of Ahmedabad from a small town called Tharad in Norther Gujarat in hopes of better opportunities for their 8 children.
@gautam_adani completed his schooling from Seth CN Vidyalaya in Ahmedabad and then enrolled himself for a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce at Gujarat University.
It was when he was pondering over accounts and statistics, he realized academics was not for him.
Here is how the company went from "Fill it, Shut it, forget it" to "dhak-dhak go" to "Hum mein hai Hero" to owning a market share of about 46% in India in the two-wheeler category.
Ludhiana, Punjab is where everything came alive!
In 1956 a still renowned brand “Hero Cycles” came into power.
Soon after the Munjal brothers founded the cycle company in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles in the entire nation.
Nobody could stop the attention of international automakers “Hero Cycles” grabbed!