Sanjay Agarwal, Co-Founder, Promoter and MD of Century Plyboards, speaks to an enthralled audience in the webinar titled, ‘Journey to the Peak’, hosted by IIMB’s Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management.
06 June, 2021, Bengaluru: The man behind one of the most talked-about brands and one of the largest plywood businesses in India, Sanjay Agarwal, Co-Founder, Promoter and MD of Century Plyboards (India) Ltd., got the audience hooked to an insightful talk on June 06 (Sunday), 2021 as part of the LeaderSpeak Series, hosted by IIM Bangalore’s two-year weekend Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management (PGPEM). The webinar, titled, ‘Journey to the Peak’, opened on an enthusiastic note as Sanjay remarked, “This courage is big – this courage to take a pause for two years to study, while fulfilling other responsibilities in life.”
Growing up in a joint family in Tinsukia, Assam, Sanjay recollected how his childhood formed formidable foundations in understanding business. His father trained him and other children in the family in issuing challans, stock keeping, trial balancing, etc., and by the time he was in Class VIII he was already spending four to five hours a week in their hardware shop selling paint and tiles. “My father woke me up daily at 5 am for swimming. Those were my early lessons in physical fitness and discipline” recollects Sanjay, an ardent marathoner, golfer and an avid trekker, now 60. He also adds, it is never too late to start for anybody who wants to start.
When asked how he maintains his fitness and manages marathons, trekking and other physical activities amidst his busy schedule, he made an interesting remark that there was no such thing as ‘work-life balance’ to him. “Work is very much a part of life. We start preparing for work very early and dedicate a great part of life and focus to it and that is how imbalance creeps in. If there is any balance to achieve, it is between body, mind and soul. Mind is the master. Do not look at others. Look at yourself. This is how I see my day – What did I do? What could I have delegated to others to make my day more productive?”, he said, adding that he finds eight hours quite sufficient to fulfill his work commitments. The balance between complementary aspects – say, between good and bad, discipline and flexibility - is a more important one to achieve according to him, that makes life worthwhile and more interesting.
On finding the mountain: Problems as opportunities
He says the motivation for the mountaineer is the mountain itself. When you find your mountain, the one that excites and challenges you, when you stop shying away from problems that are nothing but opportunities in disguise, you have found the solutions too, he suggested. “The problem itself is the cause of all great journeys and endeavors”. He recalled how his first and second ventures failed, and how that laid the foundation for the success of the third one. Even as import duties on veneer were hiked to 200% by the Government of India during 1980s, when the roots of Century Plywood were taking shape, Sanjay and Co-founder Sajjan Bhajanka saw an opportunity in the raw material of raw material – timber – whose taxes were reduced.
And the search continued. Sanjay set on to find new mountains through his journey, which enhanced his expertise in diversified sectors such as plywood, laminates, cement, ferro alloy and container freight services and the shipping sector, along the path. He is also a key member of Executive Committees of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Confederation of Indian Industry (East) and Young Presidents’ Organization GOLD (Kolkata).
On striking the synergies
When asked about how Sajjan Bhajanka and he, who are not blood-related, get along so well, he shared his take on synergies and sustaining relationships at work. “We both have different work styles. Yet, the key is to have respect for each other, to respect the boundaries and appreciate the fact that one is not less than the other.” According to him, division of responsibilities and clear demarcation on who executes what, is important. “In my domain, I prevail, I call the shots. And when there is a failure, it is important not to crib or blame”, he says candidly.
On competition and looking inward
When asked about his view on Ikea’s arrival being the watershed moment for the furniture industry, Godrej and few other players ramping up their ready-made furniture play, Chinese imports making inroads into India through both organized and unorganized retailers, this is what he had to say: “Competition is always there. It never hurt us. Ikea will only help us to do more. We faced many failures in the initial days. Government banned units in Arunachal Pradesh. We gathered ourselves then.”
We should have the courage to identify the elephant in the room, he says. “We have always seen competition as a motivation to push more from within and find the core values important to the organization. For example, the termite problem! It had been there in the industry for over 40 years. This was hitting our sales. We brought in a team from US who helped us in creating a termite-resistant product. We were the first to do it and Century Ply is what it is today, because of that decision”, he adds.
On building sustaining brands
When asked about this whole journey of Century Ply – from 100 crore turnover in 2000 to 4500 crore turnover today – on building and re-building the organization in the last two decades, he says it is ‘Quality’ that they always strived for and what set them apart. “Quality is a mindset”, he remarks.
He also adds that without brand everything else fails. Brand is the identity and the soul of the product. He recollects his lessons in branding from his early days. He had an epiphany when a store manager said, he had to ‘sell’ Sanjay’s plywood whereas the other brand Kitply was selling itself. That one statement made him realize the value of a brand, that he needed to build a brand, which he did – Century Ply, a brand that is now a common household name.
Sanjay also elaborated on how it was important to build a self-driven team aligned with the company in a bond of mutual trust. He says, in today’s information age, knowledge can be acquired easily, but the fire within to perform cannot be. “We need to keep the team excited. A self-sustained organization can keep itself excited.” He also adds absolute corporate governance is important and that there cannot be any compromise there.
Closing thoughts
Responding to a query on where we stand relating to India’s ambition to become a 5 trillion economy, he said that industry and its workforce are prepared and geared up to reach there. With help from the government to allocate more budget for infrastructure, the right push will be given. This may lead to more inflation, but it will reach back to normalcy soon. He also mentioned that Century Ply is giving subsidized saplings to farmers, helping in afforestation and that is one of their ways of giving back to society.
To Sanjay Agarwal, destiny, though important, is a small part of life. "The power is within you to harness. If you fail, do not look at others. Look within you and decide what you want. You will regret the mistake you have not made! The mistakes you made are temporary, but the ones you did not make are permanent."
Sanjay Agarwal, Co-Founder, Promoter and MD of Century Plyboards, speaks to an enthralled audience in the webinar titled, ‘Journey to the Peak’, hosted by IIMB’s Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management.
06 June, 2021, Bengaluru: The man behind one of the most talked-about brands and one of the largest plywood businesses in India, Sanjay Agarwal, Co-Founder, Promoter and MD of Century Plyboards (India) Ltd., got the audience hooked to an insightful talk on June 06 (Sunday), 2021 as part of the LeaderSpeak Series, hosted by IIM Bangalore’s two-year weekend Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management (PGPEM). The webinar, titled, ‘Journey to the Peak’, opened on an enthusiastic note as Sanjay remarked, “This courage is big – this courage to take a pause for two years to study, while fulfilling other responsibilities in life.”
Growing up in a joint family in Tinsukia, Assam, Sanjay recollected how his childhood formed formidable foundations in understanding business. His father trained him and other children in the family in issuing challans, stock keeping, trial balancing, etc., and by the time he was in Class VIII he was already spending four to five hours a week in their hardware shop selling paint and tiles. “My father woke me up daily at 5 am for swimming. Those were my early lessons in physical fitness and discipline” recollects Sanjay, an ardent marathoner, golfer and an avid trekker, now 60. He also adds, it is never too late to start for anybody who wants to start.
When asked how he maintains his fitness and manages marathons, trekking and other physical activities amidst his busy schedule, he made an interesting remark that there was no such thing as ‘work-life balance’ to him. “Work is very much a part of life. We start preparing for work very early and dedicate a great part of life and focus to it and that is how imbalance creeps in. If there is any balance to achieve, it is between body, mind and soul. Mind is the master. Do not look at others. Look at yourself. This is how I see my day – What did I do? What could I have delegated to others to make my day more productive?”, he said, adding that he finds eight hours quite sufficient to fulfill his work commitments. The balance between complementary aspects – say, between good and bad, discipline and flexibility - is a more important one to achieve according to him, that makes life worthwhile and more interesting.
On finding the mountain: Problems as opportunities
He says the motivation for the mountaineer is the mountain itself. When you find your mountain, the one that excites and challenges you, when you stop shying away from problems that are nothing but opportunities in disguise, you have found the solutions too, he suggested. “The problem itself is the cause of all great journeys and endeavors”. He recalled how his first and second ventures failed, and how that laid the foundation for the success of the third one. Even as import duties on veneer were hiked to 200% by the Government of India during 1980s, when the roots of Century Plywood were taking shape, Sanjay and Co-founder Sajjan Bhajanka saw an opportunity in the raw material of raw material – timber – whose taxes were reduced.
And the search continued. Sanjay set on to find new mountains through his journey, which enhanced his expertise in diversified sectors such as plywood, laminates, cement, ferro alloy and container freight services and the shipping sector, along the path. He is also a key member of Executive Committees of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Confederation of Indian Industry (East) and Young Presidents’ Organization GOLD (Kolkata).
On striking the synergies
When asked about how Sajjan Bhajanka and he, who are not blood-related, get along so well, he shared his take on synergies and sustaining relationships at work. “We both have different work styles. Yet, the key is to have respect for each other, to respect the boundaries and appreciate the fact that one is not less than the other.” According to him, division of responsibilities and clear demarcation on who executes what, is important. “In my domain, I prevail, I call the shots. And when there is a failure, it is important not to crib or blame”, he says candidly.
On competition and looking inward
When asked about his view on Ikea’s arrival being the watershed moment for the furniture industry, Godrej and few other players ramping up their ready-made furniture play, Chinese imports making inroads into India through both organized and unorganized retailers, this is what he had to say: “Competition is always there. It never hurt us. Ikea will only help us to do more. We faced many failures in the initial days. Government banned units in Arunachal Pradesh. We gathered ourselves then.”
We should have the courage to identify the elephant in the room, he says. “We have always seen competition as a motivation to push more from within and find the core values important to the organization. For example, the termite problem! It had been there in the industry for over 40 years. This was hitting our sales. We brought in a team from US who helped us in creating a termite-resistant product. We were the first to do it and Century Ply is what it is today, because of that decision”, he adds.
On building sustaining brands
When asked about this whole journey of Century Ply – from 100 crore turnover in 2000 to 4500 crore turnover today – on building and re-building the organization in the last two decades, he says it is ‘Quality’ that they always strived for and what set them apart. “Quality is a mindset”, he remarks.
He also adds that without brand everything else fails. Brand is the identity and the soul of the product. He recollects his lessons in branding from his early days. He had an epiphany when a store manager said, he had to ‘sell’ Sanjay’s plywood whereas the other brand Kitply was selling itself. That one statement made him realize the value of a brand, that he needed to build a brand, which he did – Century Ply, a brand that is now a common household name.
Sanjay also elaborated on how it was important to build a self-driven team aligned with the company in a bond of mutual trust. He says, in today’s information age, knowledge can be acquired easily, but the fire within to perform cannot be. “We need to keep the team excited. A self-sustained organization can keep itself excited.” He also adds absolute corporate governance is important and that there cannot be any compromise there.
Closing thoughts
Responding to a query on where we stand relating to India’s ambition to become a 5 trillion economy, he said that industry and its workforce are prepared and geared up to reach there. With help from the government to allocate more budget for infrastructure, the right push will be given. This may lead to more inflation, but it will reach back to normalcy soon. He also mentioned that Century Ply is giving subsidized saplings to farmers, helping in afforestation and that is one of their ways of giving back to society.
To Sanjay Agarwal, destiny, though important, is a small part of life. "The power is within you to harness. If you fail, do not look at others. Look within you and decide what you want. You will regret the mistake you have not made! The mistakes you made are temporary, but the ones you did not make are permanent."