Shivrams Associates founded was founded by V.Sivaraman ( 1937 - 2017 ) , the son of Meenakshiammal and Venkateswara of Venkatesh Vastralaya in 1974. V.Sivaraman was a maverick entrepreneur. " My father began with a capital of Rs.46,700 and this included a scooter, car and a type writer.
Shivrams Associates founded was founded by V.Sivaraman ( 1937 - 2017 ), the son of Meenakshiammal and Venkateswara of Venkatesh Vastralaya in 1974. V.Sivaraman was a maverick entrepreneur. " My father began with a capital of Rs.46,700 and this included a scooter, car and a type writer. The cash component was Rs.26,000. He came up in life because of his courage and hard work backed by vision. Help came from Hormis, Chairman of Federal Bank and Auditor C.G.Venkataramanan. Father was a frank and outspoken person. He would not mince his words and will not flatter anyone. People got the credit they deserved. He did not believe in shortcuts and he paid his taxes properly. Father used to state that he was comfortable because somebody was serving the country and therefore taxes had to be paid promptly. He used to play tennis and billiards. The Mylapore Club and the Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club were frequented by him. He was innovative all his life. His approach to business was unique and it had borne rich dividends to everyone concerned, " stated Venkatesh, who is affectionately known as Murali.
Venkateswara Iyer, the father of Sivaraman was born in 1909. He had established his textile business in 1932. Venkatesh Vastralaya was his venture. The company distributed products of Buckingham & Carnatic Company Ltd, Bangalore Woollen, Cotton and Silk Mills Ltd. Venkateswara Iyer had offices in Madras and Coimbatore. He was Director - Bhavani Mills Ltd and Anandkumar Mills Ltd. The Rotarian was also the President of the Coimbatore Cloth Merchants Association, Honourary Secretary : The Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry - Coimbatore, Office Bearer of Kerala Club & Social Club, Southern India Chamber of Commerce, Indian Red Cross Society, the Discharged Prisoners Aid Society and the SPCA. His address had been 31, Bhashyakarulu Road, R.S.Puram and phone number was 537.
The parents of Sivaraman had moved to Coimbatore soon after his birth in Vadakanchery. His father Venkateswara Iyer was an industrious personality who was capable of taking courageous and future focused decisions. Venkatewara Iyer keenly scrutinized and took an insightful decision to move to Coimbatore prior to the second world war. He strongly believed that it was the right place which grooms business minds and offers myriad oppourtunities for those who were ready to explore the ' path less travelled '. In short, the city had been a happening place.
V.Sivaraman was the first son and he had one younger brother and two sisters as well. He did his primary education at the R.S.Puram Boys High School and thereafter moved over to Vivekananda College in Chennai. Sivaraman dropped out to join First City Bank as an employee in 1956. He began his business journey by joining Venkatesh Vastralaya in 1957.
He married P.R.Seetha on 3rd December 1961 and the couple were blessed with Venkatesh, Chithra and Jayashree. His wife Seetha had played a stellar role in bringing up the family while also standing firmly behind her husband at all times.
Sivaraman used to consult, discuss and deliberate his major plans with her.
" We can only reason that our father was simply exceptional; he was God's gift to the people who had the privilege of associating with him, " remembers the younger daughter Jayashree Vinod. Sivaraman had imbibed his entrepreneurial skills and leadership qualities to his children.
Venkatesh Vastralaya used to distribute Binny fabrics while also simultaneously operating a chain of retail shops in Chennai. The Binny Retail Showrooms at Chennai used to clock a turnover of Rs.74 lakhs as early as 1973. Sivaraman had taken complete charge of the business and expanded really well by then. The year 1963 was important for it was the time when the company was appointed as sole agents for Lakshmi Mills and Coimbatore Cotton Mills. In order to expand operations, a strategic tie up was done with Bombay Dyeing in the year 1974. Prior to this appointment, the company had one showroom in Coimbatore and seven in Kerala. The operations were just contributing Rs.60 Lakhs as turnover per annum.
Shivrams Associates was born as a full fledged professional marketing organization in Coimbatore. Sivaraman got his first hand professional training as well as support from his mentor and well wisher C.G.Venkataramanan( CGV ), a leading chartered accountant. CGV was fully convinced and confident of Sivraman's activities and he offered to act as guarantor for Shivrams Associates. CGV and VS established a finance company - VV Finance ( a joint venture with Sampurnam Finance ) with the objective of assisting Venkatesh Vastralaya and the dealer network of Shivrams Associates. The ' Can do ' attitude of Sivaraman brought him growth and laurels. He focused on opening exclusive Bombay Dyeing showrooms in all major towns in South India. Sivaraman created a modern distribution network. Eventually Bombay Dyeing requested Sivaraman to distribute their products all over Tamilnadu and this happened in 1982. The son Venkatesh joined the bandwagon in 1983. The network was to reach a strength of 140 plus retail showrooms and about 2000 dealers.
Sivaraman used to always say that, " There should be pain felt, when the customer leaves the store without buying." Bombay Dyeing had 26 distributors all over the country and Shivrams Associates was their No.1 and they consumed 43 percent of the total production of the company. It was a time when Bombay Dyeing was waging a corporate war with reliance for leadership. Sivaraman got involved with the production as well and he had become No.1 in just 5 years. The slot was retained by him for the next 25 years. He created the firm Jayashree Agencies and he offered a partnership to his office staff in the firm. The company was part of Shivrams Associates and the financial income was distributed to the partners. He believed that TEAM expanded as ' Together Empowered to Achieve More 'Cash and Carry ' was his bullet proof policy
The Blue Print for success consisted of a lot of systems and procedures. The PODSCORB was interesting - Planning, Organizing, Directing, Staffing, Co ordinating, Reporting and Budgeting. It was in place on a daily basis. Shivrams Associates went to a new building ' Shiv Chambers ' in 1983 and it was designed by the eminent architect T.S.Ramani Sankar.
Sivaraman innovated a lot. He captured the lungi market through a smart move by introducing printed ones in 127 cm width. This was well received. School uniforms were another area. On another occasion, adult diaper material was converted into a towel and it was a big hit. The unit restarted production. Sivaraman wanted to ensure that the three 'M' s - Man, Machine and Material were in perfect alignment in order to achieve the desired results.
" Father was very cool in all his approaches to the dealers, kept his calm and composure. The dealers would never have anything unanswered on their list of his approvals for any of their issues. He was destined to lead and build a charisma for himself. He was called the ' Pithamagan ' of marketing by K.R.Nagarajan - Founder of Ramraj Cotton. Father used to state that competing against established brands by attacking them directly is tough. He believed that we had to create an atmosphere where direct attack would be eased. This would happen only by creating brand awareness in the peripherals and by slowly expanding into other market areas. Once the pressure mounted on the other brands increase, one could go for a direct attack and win. Of course service was the key. He had his 10 Commandments for business success. This included - Clean Business Ethics, Never do business without profits, Goodwill - the only asset etc., In short he was a mentor who lead by example, " added Venkatesh Sivaraman. This was reason enough for brands like Mafatlal, Reliance and Crocodile wanting to work with him and his son.
Employee welfare was top on his list. He wanted to share his profits with the team which worked with him. Employee Share Ownership Plan ( ESOP ) was a part of his life. Long ago, he developed the concept of employee profit sharing and it was quite unique those days. The company Shivrams Associates reached great heights those days. It won recognitions from the Government and the companies as well. It achieved Rs.100 crores in terms of turnover and was recognized by Bombay Dyeing nearly 30 years ago.
He was awarded the ' Rashtriya Samman ' by the Government of India, Income Tax Department for being one of the highest tax payers consequently for 5 years. He had created more than 250 entrepreneurs during his business career. V.R.Jagannathan, the auditor had been his guiding factor on all tax compliances.
Sivaraman possessed immense knowledge of the scriptures and this helped him to take crucial decisions. He was closely associated with the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam and also the initiatives of Swami Dayananda Saraswathi. Sivaraman was part of the Rotary Club of Coimbatore Central and he was instrumental in collecting significant contributions for the Sankara Eye Society by conducting fund raising programs through fashion shows and concerts by singers like S.P.Balasubramaniam. V.Sivaraman ( VS ) wished that the staff who contributed to the success of Shivrams Associates be rewarded with some kind of benevolence during his life time.
Later, his wife Seetha, son Venkatesh, daughters Chithra Suresh and Jayashree Vinod fulfilled his wish by giving substantial payments to the 123 staff members who had contributed towards the growth of Shivrams Associates. A 4 day event had been organized at the residence and staff members were invited in batches and the benevolence was distributed by the family. It came as a real surprise for the staff as they were being rewarded for their earlier services even after the times of their mentor. V.Sivaraman had also helped by contributing a lot to the educational institutions and the distressed.
This kind of benevolence is sure to set an example for other similar organizations to emulate. Dr.G.Lakshmipathi adds to the flavor by making a statement on V.Sivaraman, " He was a man of courage. One understands from the story of Bhoja Raja that Dhairya Lakshmi is the most welcome of all forms of Lakshmi. Once she is installed at home, the other seven manifestations of the Goddess follow and settle alongside." Very True.
Coimbatore has been on a growth trajectory for a long time. Branding and value addition add to the spirit of the city. The life and times of entrepreneurs like V.Sivaraman are likely to encourage youngsters to tread on a courageous path.