Harsh Mariwala
Marico Chairman Harsh Mariwala, who gave us big brands like Parachute and Saffola, is today one of the most successful industrialists in the country. But do you know that the foundation of his company worth billions was laid by a simple conversation with a shopkeeper from a small town? Mariwala himself has shared an interesting anecdote from his struggling days on LinkedIn, which shows that big ideas often emerge not in fancy meeting rooms, but among common people.
When there were neither fancy hotels nor big cars
Mariwala wrote that when Mariko was in its initial stages, they had “no other option.” He was trying to do something new by breaking away from his family’s ‘Bombay Oil Industries’ business and did not have a big marketing budget. He told, “I stayed at a distributor’s house in a small town.”
In those days, there was neither money to stay in expensive hotels nor comfortable offices. Mariwala himself would go to meet distributors, travel on dusty roads and stay in small guest rooms. “I used to sit over tea and samosas with distributors,” he writes, “so that I could understand the ground reality and customer behavior firsthand.” This was information that could not be found in any polished corporate report.
That one thing from the shopkeeper, which changed his fate
During one such trip, a local shopkeeper gave him advice that changed the entire way Marico did packaging. The shopkeeper bluntly told Mariwala, “You always sell big tins. When people come back to buy, they take only a few kilos. If your packet is smaller, they will easily pick up your brand.”
This seemed a very trivial thing, but Mariwala immediately recognized its importance. It was this advice that inspired them to launch a shift from large tins to smaller, easier-to-buy packets (SKUs).
The real ‘research lab’ is a tea shop, not an excel sheet
This small change proved to be a revolutionary step for Marico. This single decision transformed Marico from a bulk oil supplier to a household name FMCG brand. Through this story, Mariwala gives a big message to today’s new entrepreneurs (founders). Data and reports have their place, he says, but “your real research lab isn’t spreadsheets or agencies. It’s the ground… in the dusty shelves of neighborhood stores and in conversations that seem trivial at first glance.”