[box type=”shadow” ]Bangalore-based Megamorph Marketing, with a vision to “Make the World a Safer, Cleaner & Better Place”, is making fast strides and expanding rapidly. Following his retirement from Eureka Forbes, AVS Suresh, has joined this young company in the family to take it to a different height. Speaking to Clean India Journal, AVS shares his experience working with a young team, innovative products and penetration into fast-growing segments.[/box]
In a new role at Megamorph, what has been your experience so far?
An innovative atmosphere and a young and dynamic team with deeply instilled principles, values and ethics drive Megamorph towards excellence. The team’s high energy reminds me of the early days of my career and how we worked passionately to build businesses and brands from the ground up. Over the past few years, Megamorph has steadily grown to be recognized both in the global and domestic markets. I look forward to enrich the work that has been done so far by introducing a profitable business model.
What are your plans, given your expertise, to take Megamorph to newer heights?
We plan to increase our penetration into the Indian market by focusing on previously untapped high potential markets. We have started associating with neighbouring countries, the Middle East and Africa. The potential for products from a Green Certified Company is huge and the focus will be to capture these opportunities. In the long term, I see Megamorph as a global player in the hygiene and sanitation industry with a commitment to care for the planet and the people. We aim to be innovative and inventive to develop future-ready solutions that can generate parallel streams of revenue for existing business verticals.
What according to you should be a planned structure and work strategy for young companies?
The company has been built with a structured and systematic approach, enabling Megamorph and brands like CareClean stand apart. We have had negligible impact in spite of large economic disruptions like demonetization and implementation of GST, and have continued to have good growth. This has been possible because of the approach to market — not just as selling a product, but as a highly specialized service. Megamorph partners with its clients to bring down operational costs and increase overall efficiency of cleaning. The company empowers its channels with a profit sharing model, which has a strict zero dumping policy. The focus is always on getting new customers and giving them exceptional service rather than adding new channels without adequate support. The client must trust us and must want to partner with us before they are introduced to the channel and not the other way around.
What are the newer additions to your product range?
Currently we are ready to launch our laundry range of chemicals in Clean India Pulire Exhibition in Mumbai in January 2018. This range has been in development for over two years and extensive research on product performance and customer insights have resulted in a range of highly specialized solutions that will drastically change the way many look at laundry chemicals.
We are also in the final stage of development for a range of solutions that are catered specially to certain fast-growing segments in the Indian market. The focus of our R&D team is to develop solutions to specific challenges that have no alternate solution. The Indian market today is looking for customized and specially catered solutions rather than umbrella solutions that do not always work.
Which are the different segments where demand for Megamorph products can come from?
There is a significant increase in demand from the healthcare, education, hospitality, defence services and government sectors for products from certified Green companies. The education and awareness levels of cleanliness seem to be on the rise over the last few years in certain segments which until now ignored the importance of cleanliness. The need for industries to adhere to international norms for exports would also boost the demand for cleaning solutions. The Railways is an excellent example and a thought leader in this change of mindset.
Is the market ready to accept Green products?
The challenge that India faces is the exorbitant price that gets attached to Green products. However, we are working in close association with a few of the leading Bio-tech firms in India to develop indigenous solutions that can be cost effective.
After long successful innings at Eureka Forbes, what is your advise to the new generation companies?
In my entire professional career, I have strongly believed in two things – success comes to those who smartly work towards it and there are no shortcuts to success. Organizations must adopt a customer-centric approach for understanding their needs and requirements rather than product centric approach. The management must always look at scalability, profitability and distinction while building businesses and ensure that the principles on which the organization is built and instilled across the organization. At Megamorph, our “Commitment to Care” is spread throughout the company and even a worker is consciously aware of this in each task.
Which department in particular you think needs to be worked on by the companies wanting to establish themselves?
No one department can establish an organization in the current market situation. Those at the helm of affairs need to introspect on the decisions taken must always point the finger back to themselves. The right decisions can turn things around across the organization. Though a rotten apple might spoil the barrel, an unfertilized field will kill the crop. The Indian market today is fast evolving and companies must take note of the speed and nature of this change. Companies that work in sync with the broad vision of the country and not parallel to it can only expedite the country’s journey from a developing to a developed nation. Though market disruption due to economic policy is inevitable, businesses that have a strong pillar of ethics will always come out stronger with changing regulations.
Business development and sales should be the main focus of any organization and its leadership. The leaders must be connected with their team to the last person in the chain and should gather maximum customer insights from their interactions to take better decisions.
Do you think Make in India would work with the Indian Cleaning Industry?
I think we are at a stage where there is an acceptance for an Indian product both in India and abroad. Globally, partners now see Indian companies as more competent and capable of catering to their needs in a transparent manner, with minimal bureaucratic involvement. From being a request to Make in India, we are now at a stage where the tag Made in India, has a significant value. The same applies for our industry too. Organizations that work with a strict quality policy and consistency of standards are sure to succeed anywhere.
Even though the labour availability is not yet a dire challenge, automation & digitizing of solutions is the need of the hour. Product performance and customer expectations are to be decided at the initial stages of manufacturing itself. Cleaning products that can meet the challenges faced in cleaning high traffic areas of India can work effectively across the globe.
In most cases, it is Indian technology that powers many international machines, so why not combine our technical and production expertise to give a 100% Made in India product that can beat the rest across the world. The aim must be to deliver excellence and not mediocrity; financial efficiency & not cheap products. Artificial Intelligence to track and monitor usage pattern and application challenges will certainly help evolve the industry into the next generation and reach greater heights.
