By Giraj Sharma
There are these extremely successful professionals who make a name for themselves by delivering awesome results. They are called the stars of the industry. Then there is this rare breed among them who are not just great performers but they leave a huge impact on the people they work with – folks with a midas touch. They go on to become the darlings of the industry they work in. Rajeev Karwal was the darling of the Indian Consumer Durables industry. We lost him today to this deadly virus. Rajeev fought it for over three agonising weeks in a local hospital’s intensive care but then finally God’s will prevailed and he left us all shell-shocked.
Rajeev began his career at Onida in the mid-eighties. The company then was a late entrant in the highly competitive Colour Television market but was led by the dynamic Mr S L Mirchandani – a man who had tremendous faith in what the youth could do if they were sufficiently empowered. Rajeev was one of the key team members then and along with some other talented young people he helped build a company that rose to sit on top of the category in terms of market share by value, respect of the channel partners and love of the Indian consumer.
Rajeev moved on from Onida but not before tying the knot with Shobha – a colleague at Onida. Together they made a wonderful pair and Rajeev’s career really took off to a different orbit from then on. He picked up an assignment in Canary islands and then came back to India to head a lighting company before moving on to LG Electronics as its head of Sales & Marketing. Never averse to taking risks – Rajeev’s decision then of joining LG was not just bold but risky too as LG had failed to take off in their two previous attempts in India plus the “Made in Korea” then was still not as respectable a tag as it is now. But Rajeev being what he was – he gave it his might and he built up a very strong team at LG in addition to leveraging his phenomenal charisma to get some heavy weight channel partners. The team and network he created soon started to show up in terms of gains in market shares and soon LG was threatening to be the number one consumer durables company in India. Rajeev stuck his peak form at LG and truly flourished as a leader there. His basic competencies such as attention to detail, his uncanny habit of following up and his tight grip on sales data and trends made him a leader who became the darling of the consumer durable industry. He then moved from LG to head Philips and after a decent stint there he finally moved to head Electrolux in India. While at Philips he also became the president of the industry body CEAMA – an honour generally not bestowed on someone who wasn’t a company’s promoter. The media loved Rajeev and he sure had a way with them. He would be transparent, candid and forthcoming plus he would always have something interesting to say. He became their go-to person and soon we had Rajeev on the covers of leading business magazines and on business pages of newspapers. A new professional celebrity was thus born. All the accolades, achievements and honour could have impacted a lesser mortal but not Rajeev. He stayed as humble as he always was. In fact the more success he got the more humane side of his personality came to the fore.
Rajeev had this endearing quality of connecting not just with his colleagues with but also with their families. This is something that anyone and everyone who has worked with him would vouch for. They all would have an anecdote or two to share of Rajeev’s connection with their spouses and kids. Rajeev stayed in touch with almost everyone he had worked with and was always ready to support and offer guidance to whosoever approached him for help. Always indebted to his alma mater, IMT Ghaziabad, Rajeev would take time out for the institution’s activities – at times forcing some of his colleagues to guide the students there.
Rajeev’s stint at Electrolux came to an abrupt end when the group decided to hive off the home appliances business. This prompted Rajeev to launch his own company – Milagrow. The road that carries one from being a professional to being a promoter comes with its own road blocks and hurdles but Rajeev had his life partner Shobha standing by him all through. Backing his instincts Rajeev took a very bold wager by investing in robotics and this too a decade ago when not many would want to risk it on a consumer product category built on robotics. But then Rajeev was that visionary and he backed his instincts completely. Sadly just when things started to move to a different orbit and Milagrow products started to become relevant to consumers – Rajeev contracted the deadly virus.
Rajeev leaves behind a large number of professionals whose career and growth is a direct result of the time he invested in mentoring them professionally. His connections with his team mates and colleagues were such that anyone who ever worked with Rajeev could turn to him for support – sure of the fact they would be guided and helped. Sadly none of that could be reciprocated while he struggled with that dreadful virus for the wishes and prayers of so many went unanswered. The darling of the industry who brought in so much joy all around left it weeping today morning.