Leadership Needs To Be Caring In Covid Times: Mariwala
Harsh Mariwala, Chairman, Marico has divulged how the Marico Innovation Foundation had enticed Indian entrepreneurs to manufacture healthcare gear to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Speaking at a recent BW Dialogue on Leadership, Mariwala said entrepreneurs were egged on to create the best quality PPE and masks, as well as ventilators and respirators. Shortlisted entrepreneurs, he said, now use Marico’s distribution system across India to market these masks. “And, our target is to distribute 20 lakh masks as well as help them with e-commerce,” he said.
Speaking of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mariwala said, “This is something none of us had anticipated. So, I think there has been a huge set of learning.” He felt that the pandemic had simply accelerated a trend that had already set in. “This has led to a high degree of acceleration,” he said referring to ecommerce and the digital medium. Mariwala felt that the digital journey had simply been accelerated – be it e-learning, e-meetings, e-consultations, e-prescriptions, or e-commerce.
“The leadership requirements of (the) Covid (induced situation) has changed dramatically. Ultimately, it boils down to exhibiting a leadership style that is authentic, caring, that has a lot of empathy and proactively resolves anxiety and stress. The need to communicate is very, very high,” Mariwala said emphatically. It was necessary for industry leaders, he felt, “to not only take care of their own members and also their families, but also to communicate to their teams that this too shall pass.”
Mariwala said his company had somewhat escaped the downturn triggered by the pandemic and that the company’s business was doing well because of its focus on the ‘essentials’. “Now I am told there is a new category which is called super-essentials, like edible oils, fruits, etc., we have launched a lot of products which are in the super-essentials category,” he added. The consumption of cooking oils and ready-to-eat food had shot up in times when people were mostly home-bound. “I mean we are very fortunate that our core business are in good shape,” Mariwala said, adding, “Separately, I have another business, which is much smaller, the Kaya skincare business, which has not done well because of the risk of contracting Covid, but it is now picking up.” “I think this uncertainty is likely to continue for some time.” he said, looking ahead. “All of a sudden, things will improve, there will be a need for extra people coming in. If things don’t improve, there will be a need to ensure that we improve our cost structures,” he mused.
