With the exit from the retail business, Heritage Foods hopes to grow their dairy business to Rs 6,000 crore over the next five years announced Nara Brahmani, its executive director while addressing an interactive session with 150 plus FICCI Ladies Organisation(FLO) members here in city at Hotel Park in Hyderabad today.
She along with her husband, both together shared a business platform for the first time to share their mind, refreshing ideas on business, cinema, politics and the fine balance of all.
Kick starting the interactive session “Shifting Goal Posts” -- Nara Lokesh said after successful venture of Cyberabad completing way back in Hyderabad now we are all are set on yet another ambitious project Amaravathi, he declared.
AP is a startup state. Everything there is a white paper. There is no legacy. We treat this as an opportunity. For us every crisis is an opportunity. Who is better than Chandrababu Naidu to handle such a situation, he said.
Highlighting some of the developmental activities taken up in AP, Nara Lokesh, the Cabinet Minister for Information Technology, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development in Andhra Pradesh said every Panchayat with above 5000 population will have underground drainage. We will be laying 10,000kms underground drainage very soon, he informed.
Our leader Naidu’s dream is to develop Amaravathi as Washington DC and Rayalaseem as manufacturing hub. We will transform these two regions very soon, he added
Amaravathi will be the second city to be built in India post independence after Chandigarh, he informed.
These are the challenging and exciting times, he state and added that three out of Ten Mobile phones manufactured in India are manufactured in AP and we will take that number to five in next couple of years.
Speaking on the occasion Nara Brahmani, Executive Director of Heritage Foods said Nutrition is what drives me. My passion is health and nutrition. Low nutrition has 1 per cent burden on our GDP, she stated. We want to empower farmers through Heritage. The mandate we have at Heritage is to take out company from present Rs 2600crore to 6000crores in next five years. We will also expand our foot print to pan India. Though we are already there in many states, we will be expanding further she added.
Replying to a question on work life balance, she said it is complicated. Though I manage many times, some times I combine both she said and added that having acquired the dairy business of Reliance, Heritage now has access to five new markets apart from retail network of Reliance and Future Group. Heritage had divested its retail business to Future Group. “Over the next four to five years, the company expects to set up about five more processing units, apart from expanding the existing units. We have been opening retail outlets at a brisk face. Yet times Saturdays have become highly stressful. That is when I combine both work and life. Yet times when I have to work on Saturday, my husband Lokesh helps me in taking care of our child Devansh, she informed.
Speaking about her mother-in-law Nara Bhuvaneshwari, who is the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Brahmani said there is no conflict between us. We are a compliment to each other. She is HR support of the company, she added.
Both Brahmani and Lokesh shared that Stanford Education though has stigma, but helped them very much in their business and political lives. We have benefitted immensely with Stanford Culture, they stated.
Lokesh shared that AP would be announcing Policy on Cloud Computing very soon. When asked whether they compete in IT with other states, he said we work on strengths. We don’t compete with others. New Oil is Data. AP is consulting other states in many of the initiatives it has taken, he told the gathering.
We are going through 4th Industrial Revolution. It is here. It will create more jobs, he said.
Replying to a question on NTR Trust and Blood Bank Nara Brahmani said, the trust which has 3 blood banks currently is expanding and dding more. The current centers are at Hyderabad, Guntur and Vizag. We will go to more cities, she stated. The blood bank has saved 2.5 lakh lives, she added. We will soon set up virtual blood banking system, she informed. Health is pulling down Indian Economy. The trust will focus on this area as well, she told the gathering.
We will build a museum to capture Telugu Culture, which my grandfather late NT Rama Rao was proud of it. We will capture Telugu Culture as well as his legacy in this museum, she informed.
India has 12 million kirana stores. They will not get affected by many MNC retail outlets getting into India. Shopping in Kirana Stores has its own charm, she informed
Many in the city particularly our members are inquisitive to listen Nara Brahmani and Lokesh share their vision & passion for bringing in the fresh winds of change across Business and Politics. That is why we coined the talk, “THINKING REFRESHED” informed Kamini Saraf, Chairperson of FICCI Ladies Organization(FLO) in her welcome address.
It is a rare opportunity for FLO members to listen to their own power couple talking to them, sharing their journey. It will make interesting and inspiring. Lokesh and Brahmani, the made for each other couple haven’t appeared much together on business platforms like this one. Indeed it is a great honor and opportunity the couple bestowed on FLO, and we are grateful to them, Kamini said.
It has been my constant endeavor this year to get speakers from diversified backgrounds to give our members overall perspective of business environment and learn from their experiences, informed Kamini.
