7/29/2019 After Completing an MSc in Physics I Took Up the Post of a Trainee Supervisor in an Electric and Electronic Manufa

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After completing an MSc in Physics I took up the post of a trainee supervisor in an electric and electronic

manufacturing company in Trivandrum for a stipend of Rs 150/-. Gaining experience in their R & D department stood

me in good stead. Though I dreamt of being a research assistant in BARC and ISRO, and despite many applications

sent, I received no response. I spent three years at this company, gaining much knowledge and experience and had

been promoted to Junior Engineer with a salary of Rs 850/- (which was a tidy sum at that time). Since the company

was not doing well and with no job offers on the horizon, I decided to start out on my own with a small scalestabilizer unit. I had the confidence that I could compensate the Rs 850/- salary by selling 50 stabilizers a month.

With borrowed capital from my father, two unskilled workers and a lot of help from my

friends, I began this unit in a one room tenement in Ernakulam. Culling the 'V' from 'Volt', and a kangaroo mascot to

indicate 'protection', 'V Guard' was on its way.

In a short span of one year the staff strength grew to 20 and sales increased. We were competing with leading

brands, finding niche markets in refrigerator sales and its dealers. The consumer boom of the 80's lead to a swell in

business. A severe labour problem in 1984 saw V Guard outsourcing production to charitable units. It remains largely

the same till this day.

V-Guard Industries

In 1977, I borrowed Rs 1,00,000/- from my father and set up a small manufacturing facility for stabilisers. I had two

workers to assist me. Those days the market was flooded with low quality stabilizers from north India with the

exception of brands like Voltas and Keltron. Sensing the need for a reliable and quality product with a good after

sales backup, I set about manufacturing the V-Guard stabiliser. Quality and reliability being my focus and armed with

an effective marketing strategy, I was able to capture the market quickly. V-Guard soon became a household name.

The company grew slowly and steadily and now enjoys a pan Indian presence

Wonderla

Having set the company on wheels I toyed with the idea of diversification and a completely new course- a watertheme park. I had travelled extensively to Europe and America and assessed the potential. The thought of replicating

it in Cochin where the terrain was ideal and water was plentiful was exciting. Delivering on the quality of the rides,

meeting international safety standards were all a daunting task but I decided to take it on with a firm belief that with

perseverance,optimismand a positive attitude all things were possible.

A few years down the line and as a natural progression to Veegaland, I embarked on a larger and more refined water

theme park in Bangalore - Wonderla

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7/29/2019 After Completing an MSc in Physics I Took Up the Post of a Trainee Supervisor in an Electric and Electronic Manufa

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V-Star Creations

V-Star is another venture from the V Guard stable, manufacturing inner wear for ladies and gents. With

manufacturing facilities in Kerala and outside, Valero for men and Vanessa for women have quickly captured themarket with its high quality and innovative design sensibilities

Veegaland developers

Veegaland Developers is my foray into the real estate sector. The company will focus on construction projects that

emphasise quality living standards in the urban landscape

Kidney donation

I watched a close relative (my daughter-in-law Priya's mother) battle with kidney disease and observing the agony of

the patient, the immediate family and the difficulty in finding a donor. I began making enquiries if I could donate

mine. After consulting my doctor friends and finding myself healthy, I saw no harm in it. Though my family and

friends initially discouraged me I managed to convince them. Meanwhile I read about Rev. Fr. Chiramel who was an

inspiration to me and joined hands with him to find a recipient and eventually formed a donor program. The program

enables easy access to donors, legal and documentational assistance

Euthanasia

I feel very strongly about "leave the world with dignity". When death is imminent and obvious in case of terminal

illness or failure of your body systems, I feel it is cruel to prolong life through ventilators, painful surgeries and even

bringing on financial and other burdens to your near and dear. Hence I have approached the judiciary for legal

sanction for a natural death

Unique Business Model

In the mid-1980s, when trade unions forced his workers into strike, Chittilappilly shut his

factories, but not his less-than-a-decade-old business. He was upset by the fact that the strike was

instigated by "outsiders", but he took a quick decision to outsource work to small enterprises that

Kerala's militant labour unions didn't have on their radar.

Nearly two decades on, several such units continue to work for him, and more new entities have

joined the 60-plus-strong pool of small units that make products, including voltage stabilisers,

for the brand that Chittilappilly built from scratch. "Each step in the making of a V-Guard

voltage stabiliser is monitored by Chittilappilly's team, and these units are happy because they

make a good profit," says long-time associate V Sathyanarayanan, senior partner at Varma &

Varma Chartered Accountants, auditors for V-Guard.

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V-Guard, now the country's largest maker of voltage stabilisers, does the final assembling of its

productsother than its cables, the company doesn't make any product on its own. It runs

factories that make cables, in Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and in Uttaranchal. Most of the

enterprises that make voltage stabilisers for V-Guard are located in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Chittilappilly, the man who gave V-Guard its name and made the first voltage stabiliser for thecompany, finds more opportunities in crisis situations, notes CJ George, a V-Guard director and

chief promoter of Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services. In the '80s, Chittilappilly saw

outsourcing as a ruse as well as an opportunity to keep trade unions at bay, he adds.

"Trade unions were highly disruptive back then. Things have improved now," recalls

Chittilappilly. Industrial disputes have given Kerala a bad name though there is a decline in such

strikes lately.

Perseverance is the key to success. Initially, he would

ride his scooter to distribute voltage stabilizers to shopsin and around the city. Though his product formed part of

a fragmented industry with many competitors,

Kochouseph had the vision to build a brand based on the

core values of quality and service