Uncommon Leader: The Co-optex Story Scripted by Its MD’s Passion
Photo courtesy: A.S. Diwakar
It was a tradition in my maternal household to buy silk sarees only from Co-optex. A part of it continues today. For whatever reason, despite the Nalli, Kumaran, RmKV, Pothys and Kancheepuram, of course, we went to Co-optex to get the main saree for my wife to be worn by her on the day of our wedding that happened a decade and half back. But we got the to-be-gifted silk sarees from other places. The Co-optex showroom, Vanavil, was such a dull place when we went, with poor lighting and unimpressive décor. There were no shoppers but when we said we had come to buy a wedding saree, the salesman turned a bit enthusiastic as if awakened from a long slumber.
Contrast this with the Vanvavil today where Ranjani and Gayatri, the Carnatic vocalist duo, make a visit to choose silk sarees to be worn during the concerts. The lighting is bright, ambience inviting and the décor quite impressive. Once when I just went into buy a cotton towel that was needed quite urgently by a relative, there were shoppers at noon, enthusiastically asking for items, which I guessed was their favourite. The spectacular turnaround owes it to the present Co-optex Managing Director, T.N. Venkatesh, IAS, who was given the posting by the Tamil Nadu government in 2014. He succeeded P. Sagayam, who also did his bit for Co-optex by asking people to wear dhotis and said weavers are sons of the soil needing encouragement. But he hogged limelight and controversy and was eventually transferred.
There was a brief spell of discontinuity when the Election Commission transferred officers prior to the 2016 Assembly elections and Venkatesh was also shunted out of Co-optex. It is heartening that as AIADMK retained power, Venkatesh was given his earlier posting. In fact, the new AIADMK government restored all the previous postings shuffled by the Election Commission citing elections as the reason.
Venkatesh was invited to be the guest on the Uncommon Leader series of programmes hosted by the Madras Management Association, moderated by Avis Viswanathan, happiness coach and creator of what Lakshmi Prathury of INK would call “millionaires of moments”.
Avis started the conversation by saying that Co-optex recorded the highest ever revenue of Rs. 316 crore in 2015-16 under Venkatesh’s leadership and as collector of Karur, the latter had done impressive work, especially for disabled children. Venkatesh’s record as an IAS officer is blemishless and one of making a difference, all too quietly.
Venkatesh recalled his inspiration for taking up the civil services. He had visited an uncle, who was an IAS officer in Ramanathapuram, when he was ten. He saw from very close quarters what IAS meant and what his uncle did. He was determined to become an IAS officer from that time onwards. He chose economics and psychology for graduation keeping IAS examinations in mind and kept preparing for it as long as he can remember. He recalls a moment of ecstasy. It is a tradition for new IAS officers, after training in Mussoorie, to have a meeting with the President of India and the President would hand over the appointment orders. When President K.R. Narayanan gave him the appointment order in 1998, it gave him goosebumps. The President wished Venkatesh, “May you spend a long time in the service of people of Tamil Nadu”. Venkatesh felt he realized a part of the President’s wish by serving Co-optex. Venkatesh was allotted the home state of Tamil Nadu during cadre allotment, which he considers as another blessing, as it is normally difficult to get the home state.
From 2005 to 2012, Co-optex had accumulated losses of Rs. 85 crore and was on the brink when Venkatesh took over in 2014. An NGO was tasked with studying customer behaviour of people who buy from Co-optex and what they expect. The MD says he uses the results from that survey to devise strategies. Now, Co-optex has not only wiped off the losses but has also come back strongly with retail sales recording an all-time high. From a presentation deck, it was observed that two-thirds of sales come from silk and one-third from cotton. The revenue of Rs. 316 crore in 2015-16 is the highest for any co-operative in the country, prides the Co-optex MD.
Tamil Nadu has the highest number of handloom weavers and that’s why the first National Handloom Day was celebrated in Chennai, with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi presiding over the function. “Personally, I like handwovens,” said Venkatesh and asked the audience to prefer handwovens as they are nice on the person and also ensures continued livelihood for the weavers. A unique initiative of Co-optex won praise from the Prime Minister. A weaver identity tag is attached to the saree woven by them, which also has their photograph. At the time of releasing the saree, the Prime Minister remarked, “I think we need to do this in Varanasi as well.” Venkatesh said the Varanasi weavers would soon have the identity displayed in sarees they weave.
Among the challenges that were listed to turnaround Co-optex in the presentation deck, one was certainly ambience. Although Co-optex had good officers who had put in 30 to 35 years, most of the departments did not “talk” to each other. His first task was to integrate the departments and set priorities.
Co-optex has showrooms in 16 states and weavers are spread across 23 districts in Tamil Nadu. The MD said Co-optex has 1.5 lakh weavers under its fold, which is the highest for any co-operative in the country. Another initiative of Venkatesh was to bring organic cotton into the Co-optex fold, making it the first co-operative in the country to do so. As a result, there are 150 looms being run only to produce organic cotton sarees. To popularise the fabric and to impress the weavers, Venkatesh literally went from weaver to weaver, promising to procure 100% of what they produced. And it worked very well.
Another strength of Co-optex has been conducting exhibitions in several states. As this practice was discontinued before Venkatesh took over, he not only revived it but made it an event that his staff always were enthused about. Co-optex has recorded revenues of Rs. 6.40 crore so far from 90 exhibitions this year. It held 75 exhibitions in 2015-16, garnering Rs. 5.15 crore. Wearing a shirt and a mundu, he turned a surreptitious salesman in Cochin and sold the highest number of organic sarees. The customers didn’t know MD was the salesperson but were pleasantly surprised when they came to know about it by end of the day.
“I had depressing and disillusioned moments as well,” said Venkatesh recalling his two-and-half years in Co-optex. But when he made a presentation to the late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa emphasizing the need for establishing boutiques, it was sanctioned. There are three boutiques now, two in Chennai and one in Coimbatore. The exclusive Home Tex boutique in T. Nagar has a nice ambience, where the beds and living room are recreated so that the customers get a feel of how the fabric would look like in their homes. After the inauguration of boutiques, cash sales are up by 20%.
Actually, the MD has redone his chamber at Egmore, with his favourite olive green paint and displaying the pictures of Co-optex’s exclusive weaves and products on the walls. “The problem is people who come don’t want to leave,” smiled Venkatesh.
Co-optex has constraints in advertisement budgets and sanctions. Venkatesh had found Facebook marketing handy. From 2,000 odd likes when he took over, the Facebook page of Co-optex has more than 10,000 likes now. Also www.cooptex.com was launched on December 25, 2014, which has enabled international sales. Co-optex also sells on Flipkart, Snapdeal and Craftsvilla, expanding its sales reach. Venkatesh recalled an Assamese girl studying in Poona who always gifted Co-optex sarees to her mother on the latter’s birthday. She informed the MD that she was able to get the saree of her mother’s choice through click of a button last year.
Co-optex has an international presence as well, and the MD was recently in Germany and Belgium to promote sales in those countries.
Lauding and awarding the employees has meant the morale of the workforce has remained high. Venkatesh remembered what a senior officer told him as he entered IAS, “It is nice to be important but it’s important to be nice.” He makes it a point to praise employees who do good work, encouraging others to do good work to earn his praise. He has an open door policy and takes suggestions from all levels of employees. He says staying close to the customer and standing on the showroom talking to them helps him a lot in making right decisions.
To encourage weavers, they were taken on weaver’s trails to Orissa, Maharashtra and Madya Pradesh to help them earn on-the-ground experience from other weavers. He has also taken customers on a trail of handloom clusters. He concluded with a proud statement: that one of the weavers from Salem won the award for Silk Dhoti in the Handloom Day celebrations this years at New Delhi. Venkatesh feels it is only a beginning and more will follow in the future.
Venkatesh says he brings in passion in any task he undertakes and that’s the secret of his success. Also, he says time management is important to achieve what you have aimed for, as many people in the past have demonstrated that time management is crucial to achieve extraordinary heights in life.
When government or sarkari is perceived as corrupt and inefficient, allowing little room for performance, Venkatesh has blown many a myth in demonstrating what creativity and focused effort can do. The turnaround story of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) made waves and was included as a case study in leading management schools. The turnaround and spectacular performance of Co-optex is a case study in itself, needing widespread appreciation and sharing among a large community of educators, customers and government officials.
