Intelligent Fanatics of India by Potti Rohith & Bhula Pooja

Author:Potti, Rohith & Bhula, Pooja
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Intelligent Fanatics Publication
Published: 2019-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Kochouseph Chittilappilly

V-Guard, Wonderla Holidays, & Veegaland Developers

Kochouseph Chittilappilly is a remarkable human being.

He is a stunningly successful industrialist. He founded three businesses (so far) in his lifetime—V-Guard, Wonderla Holidays, and Veegaland Developers. All had their genesis in Kerala, which is among the most difficult places to do business in India. V-Guard and Wonderla are both debt free, have sustainable returns on capital comfortably above 20%, and enjoy market caps of about Rs. 10,100 crore ($1.5 billion) and Rs. 1,560 crore ($225 million), respectively.

Chittilappilly is an exceptionally kind human being and a generous philanthropist. At the age of sixty, despite being advised against it by doctors and over the objections of his family, he volunteered to donate a kidney to a total stranger. The reason? “I wanted people to know that it is OK to donate one of your kidneys to save someone’s life, provided you’re healthy.”1

He is a respected author who has authored three English books—Practical Wisdom 1, Practical Wisdom 2, and The Gift—and a couple of books in Malayalam. He has nurtured an uncommon family comprising his wife, his two sons, and his sons’ spouses. The family together runs four business-to-consumer businesses across different sectors, spanning household appliances, amusement parks, textiles, and real estate. Kochouseph Chittilappilly, who has delegated himself out of a job at V-Guard and Wonderla, two of the largest businesses in the group, today runs Veegaland Developers, the youngest business. Mithun Chittilappilly, his youngest son, runs the flagship business, V-Guard Industries. Arun Chittilappilly, his elder son, is on the board of Wonderla, the amusement park business, with his wife, Priya. Kochouseph’s wife, Sheela Chittilappilly, started her own business in textiles, called V-Star.

How on earth did this postgraduate in physics, from an agricultural family, with no background in business, create such excellent brand-driven institutions in a state known as the graveyard of industries? It was through a curious mix of qualities: stubbornness, which began the business; unconventional decisions, which led to antifragile strengthening of the business; and delegation, which led to its scaling up. In short, it was a whole lot of intelligent fanaticism.

Early Life

Chittilappilly was born in 1950 and brought up in a typical small agricultural village called Parappur, near Thrissur, in Kerala. Parappur, like most villages in India, got electricity for the first time only around mid- to late 1950s, and during those times bullock carts were the primary mode of transport, as there were no proper roads and rarely any public transport.

Chittilappilly was brought up by strict but loving parents, who led a disciplined and hardworking life. His family was one of the wealthier agricultural families in the village. He grew up surrounded by scores of cousins and other relatives. He was a bright student throughout school despite a learning disability (dyslexia). In India, this condition was not commonly understood at the time, and he recalls being regularly punished for being slow. However, like most successful people, he compensated for the disability by inculcating considerable discipline and attention to detail, traits that eventually would be pivotal for his success in business.

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