Networking is one of the key ingredients to business success. Many entrepreneurs are really good in their product, technology, finance management and values. But their reluctance to network costs them dearly.
Rtn. A. Alagappan was the District governor of Rotary International District 2980 in the year 1994-1995. Having joined Rotary movement in 1977, he is one of the youngest Rotarian to occupy the office of District Governor of that District.
He has served as President of Thanjavur Chamber of Commerce & Industry, as an Area Commander for Tanjavur District.
Having trained and created hundreds of leaders inside and outside Rotary, Shri Alagappan the Blossom School in Tanjore to provide quality education to young children. No doubt with such a dynamic personality with vast experience in public life, Blossom school has bloomed to be a premier school in Tanjore.
Who else could be a better person than a successful entrepreneur sharing his success journey. NCC Madurai takes great pride in organizing this Powerful talk by Rtn.PDG.Alagappan on "The Power of Networking". Indeed it is a priceless speech worth listening again, again and again...!
Everyone of us love to travel - far and wide. After all the hard work and efforts, people love to enjoy their life by visiting various places - both locally and globally.
And for those of us who are reluctant to travel on our own, holiday tours and travel companies have been a blessings in disguise. These travel and tour service providers take care of the end to end needs of the traveller - right from ticketing, travel itenary, accomodation, local logistics, tour guide etc. Beyond all these services, the person who is in this business has to be a passionate traveller himself.
Our member Mr.AR.Muthuraman is one such passionate globe trotter. Inspite of his solid background and family businesses, his love for travel made him launch 'HOLIDAY HUB' at Madurai. It was pleasure listening to him present his Business in our meeting on 12th Nov 2017.
On 5th October 2017 Thiagarajar School of Management organized a Memorial Meeting at its auditorium for its beloved Chairman Mr.Manikam Ramaswami.
The few of the board of directors of TSM - Mr.Bangera of Hi-Tech Arai, Mr.Bharat of Aparajitha Total Solutions and Mr.Zacharia of Vikaasa School shared their long association, inspirations and admiration towards Mr.Manikam Ramaswamy whose untiring efforts saw TSM rise to 15th in rank of Management institutions across India.
Our President Dr.Ramakrishnan addressed the gathering and shared his experience interacting with the great personality.
Floral tributes were paid to the depart soul along with candle light procession.
Late in the evening on 2nd October 2017, around 10.23PM, whatsapp messages started pouring in grief about the sudden demise of Shri Manikam Ramaswami at Chennai. Almost every member of NCC recollected their pleasant memories they had - interacting with this Tall Personality or listenting to him in various forums including NCC Meetings and IBCN.
.
Shri.Manikam Ramaswami, Grandson of Shri.Karumuthu Thiagarajan Chettiar of A.Thekkur, is the Chairman & MD of Loyal Textile mills Ltd.
.
He has done B tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT- Chennai where he has Awarded Banco Foundation Gold Medal for securing top Rank. Mr.Ramaswami is also the Vice Chairman at TEXPROCIL. In past he has also been Chairman at the Southern India Mill's Association, and Tamil Nadu State Council-Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Besides this he is a member of the committee of Administration-Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI). And Correspondent of the Thiagarajar School of management and Thiagarajar Model Higher Secondary School, as well as the Secretary at the Thiagarajar College of Preceptors.
.
The Textile Industry has lost a captain and a leader of the modern century. His contributions to the Indian Exports of Cotton Textiles remains immeasurable!
Mr.Manikam Ramaswami was gracious to extend all facilities for our NCC Madurai Chapters Meeting at Thiagarajar School of Management at Thiruparankundram in Madurai. He took great interest that he used to enquire about the meetings frequently with our president Dr.Ramakrishnan. He was one among the kind hearts who wanted this community to come back and regain its lost glory. Though it is a big loss to our community and NCC, working towards his vision would be the fitting tribute to this great presonality.
At NCC Meeting in Chennai.
Video of his Validictory Address at IBCN 2013 in Singapore.
While tributes are pouring in Whatsapp, here are few which summarizes all:
"Very sad to hear the sudden and unexpected demise of Shri Manickkam Ramaswamy,
A perfect Gentlemen to the core.
I Still remember the 5 D"s, that he was mentioning during the valedictory speech at IBCN- 2013 at Singapore and asking all the young entrepreneurs to follow to climb the ladder of success,are the following
1.Desire
2.Determination
3.Discipline
4.Dedication
5.Divinity
Such personalities could have stayed little longer to be a mentor and guide to many of our upcoming entrepreneurs including me.
I pray the almighty for his soul to rest in peace."
"Very large hearted gentleman. Met him with his daughter in Chennai International Central a few months back and planning to do a socioeconomic activity jointly with our Tamil nadu Foundation. He was very forthcoming. Really sad."
-- Mr.V.Nagappan who cracked the news by 10.23PM to me.
A man of simplicity. Still remember the way he received us when we went to invite him for one of our Monthly meet. He was overwhelmed during that meet, showed lot of interest and supported us while we launched Madurai Chapter. Like Chona Towers, he offered his well equipped conference hall free for all Madurai meetings.
He was to play a big role in our IBCN 2019.
Its a Great Great loss to our community especially to NCC.
Our sincere prayers for his soul to rest in peace."
"His Generosity towards our community, NCC and Madurai Chapter could not be summed up in words. As per his wish, all NCC meetings at Madurai were held at Thiagarajar School of Management. RIP Manikam Ramaswami Sir" 😔😔😞
A gentleman who always “took the long term view”, “hugely ethical”, one who “never compromised on quality”, “a rare human being”... This is how those who knew Manikam Ramaswami, Chairman and Managing Director, Loyal Textiles Group, describe him.
The death on Monday of the industrialist has left his peers and associates devastated. They were unanimous that his demise was as much a personal loss to each of them, as it was to the business community.
Gopal Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director, TVS Capital Funds, recalls working with Ramaswami in the CII Tamil Nadu State Council and says, “...I can feel Ramu’s razor-sharp mind, thoughts and speech straight as an arrow, a fearless adherence to duly felt convictions, and an awe inspiring discipline in terms of preparedness.” He said Ramaswami had this never-ending quest to set right public policy issues, especially those relating to the textile industry. An impatience for results and a sense of perfection made him a powerful force at work and public policy matters. Also, Ramaswami had a deep interest in culture, values and art, which made him the “truly quintessential gentleman”, he said.
P Ravichandran, President, Danfoss Industries, and Chairman, CII – Tamil Nadu State Council, who had known Ramaswami over the last several years, described him as a “holistic person with the solidity of the old generation and the enthusiasm of the new,” always willing to innovate. He was also a philanthropist, keen on social causes, particularly education.
As an industry representative and closely associated with the CII, Ramaswami always focussed on measures that would deliver sustainable benefits, he said.
RG Chandramogan, Chairman and Managing Director, Hatsun Agro Product Ltd, said Ramaswami was a “rare human being in business” whose loss will be felt by all. “ Ramaswami was an exemplary businessman to whom values and ethics were at the core. He had a no-nonsense approach to business and never compromised on quality,” Chandramogan said.
CK Ranganathan, Chairman, Cavinkare, felt the industry and the country had lost a person who always kept the cause of general good ahead of individual profit.
A person who when needed spoke out against policies that were adverse to industry, set an example by always passing on the benefit of cost to his customers ,and was “hugely ethical and value-oriented”.
Ramaswami was the third generation of his family at the helm of the Loyal Group. The flagship Loyal Textile Mills is a BSE-listed ₹1,100-crore company with a wide product range spanning yarn, fabric, garments and home textiles. The Loyal Group includes the 168-year-old watch retail company P Orr & Sons. Ramaswami took over the family business in 1976 when the business was about Rs ₹2.5 crore. Today, it is worth about ₹1,500 crore.
“Manikam Ramaswami never hesitated to speak up, no matter who the opposition was,” reminisced Karumuttu T Kannan, his cousin and an industrialist.
Ramaswami worked closely with the State and Central agencies on policies related to textiles, foreign trade and ease of doing business.
Ramaswami’s achievements include removing duty on yarn in the 1990s. He took up the issue with then Finance Minister P Chidambaram to do away with excise duty on yarn. Kannan said, “He was a severe critic of anti-dumping duty on polyester.”
ME Manivannan, Senior Vice-President - Operations, Loyal Textile Mills, says: “He had this huge hunger for technology upgradation and automation. He was always the first to buy a new technology and test it out.”
“For many companies in the technology space, Loyal was a gateway into market,” he said.
TS Balaji, an ex-employee who had been with Loyal Textiles for more than two decades, said that “He was a fair employer and a mentor”
AL Rangarajan, another employee, recounts his time at P.Orr and Sons, where he was in charge of accounts and audit, as one of the best times. “He was sincere, man of perfection and hard working,” Rangarajan said. Ramaswami was the first to lend a helping hand when someone was in need, be it personal or professional.
Managing Man Power is a big challenge in today's world. The art of Recruiting - Training - Remunerating - Retaining is crucial for growth of any enterprise. Few of our successful NCC entrepreneurs sat in a panel discussion along with the faculty from Thiagarajar School of Management to discuss about the best practices in HR Management on 17th Sept 2017.
Mr.Lakshmanan of Farma Fabricon which employs over 300+ people along with Mr.Anand of Anand Textiles and Dr.Shanthi Muthuraman of Tooth Zone explained about their experiences in Man Power Management.
Dr.Sathyakumar, Professor and Head of Human Resources at Thiagarajar School of Management along with Dr.Biswas of Thiagarajar School of Management added their exprience in industry and academics - clarifying on crucial aspects on issues related to HR.
"Industry and Academia interaction is the need of the hour, whether it is management or technology.kudos to the Madurai team for organising such productive sessions" commented an NCC member from Chennai.
Rtn.Prof.Dr.Rajagovindasamy was former principal of Thiagarajar Arts College and belongs to the faculty of English. He is currently the Director of Mannar Thirumalai Naicker College in Madurai.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey is a widely read / popular book in the West. While reading the book should be the ultimate goal, Prof. Rajagovindasamy explained these Seven Habits in Flat 30 Minutes.
There is little benefit in just listening to him / watching this video. The real benefit comes when we implement these seven habits in our day to day routine.
If the objective of every individual is to succeed in what ever he does, then this video could be a motivation / first step towards reading this book and implementing these seven steps to success.
The wikipedia says "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, first published in 1988, is a business and self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey. ... ...Covey's best-known book has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide since its first publication in 1989. The audio version became the first non-fiction audio-book in U.S. publishing history to sell more than one million copies."
Hope this topic added a tinge of literature to the usual hardcore business meetings of NCC!
When Mr.Vijay Veerappan of Devakottai started making his BUSINESS PRESENTATION on 17th Sept 2017, it was looking like an yet another, routine presentation But the wide spectrum of products he deals with made every one wonder - how come this young man is able to manage so many business at the same time keep smiling.
Infact the faculty from Thiagarajar School of Management, who were there to take part in the panel discussion on Human Resource Management were Jaw struck by his innovative ways of managing his man power.
Mr.Vijay veerappan gave offers to NCCians for the bulk purchase of FMCG products for occassions like Weddings etc. He can be contacted at : 04522344424
Renewal energy has been high on agenda - both by environmentalist and industrialists. India - being blessed with abundance of Sunlight, it is logical for us to harvest solar power and utilize it for our residential and commercial needs.
Mr.VR.Lakshmanan of Shanmuganathapuram is an electrical engineer from REC Trichy. His company Cosmic Electricals has executed Solar projects for many industries and individuals in and around Madurai. He took us through the concept of Solar power, the various types of installations and their costing - viablity calculations under the BUSINESS PRESENTATION on 13th August 2017.
Many NCC members were hearing to this important topic for the first time in great details.
Funding is a crucial component of any business. Most of us start our business with our own capital as seed fund. But as soon as we run out of capital, we tend to limit our business due to want of funds. Even if the business is good, the product is great we are not able to progress further.
In today's corporate world, the concept of Funding businesses is a widely known and accepted phenomenon. Angel funding, venture capital funding, Private equity investing are few of the Funding categories.
To understand the nature of these funding and their suitability, NCC Madurai invited the Founder and CEO of Native Lead Network at Madurai to deliver a talk on 'Angel Funding'.
A chemical engineer by qualification, Mr.Ramanathan elaborated his amazing and emotional story on his way to success under the BUSINESS PRESENTATION on 13th August 2017. His products are currently being exported to various countries. Mr.Ramanathan after had displayed most of his products for members to feel and discuss. That's one of benefit of those who attend NCC meetings in person!
Nagarathars are often blessed with abundance : Be it wealth or knowledge or business acumen or accounting skills. All these assets with sincerity and honesty has seen them grow in the past and present. Many of us keep looking for fresh business opportunity.
On 9th July 2017, in its third Monthly Meeting, NCC Madurai invited the Associate Vice President of Nilgiris 1905 Supermarket - Mr.Dominiq - to give a presentation on Franchisee opportunity from the Supermarket Superstar.
Nilgiris is now part of Kishore Biyani's Future Group which owns Big Bazaar etc.
Those who are interested in this franchisee opportunity may stay in touch with NCC Secretary Mr.Chinniah Velayutham @ 9972744334. He can facilitate the meeting.
If there has been a fairy tale in the making, one of it could be the story of Mr.Muthappan Ramanathan. He started playing with computers and softwares at and early age. And by the time he was out of school (+2) he had already won many awards and recognitions - be it Google Hackathon or Apple events.
He joined SRM university and is the final year of his graduation. But since the 1st year in college he has been developing software solutions for clients in Germany and US. On seeing his brightness, his college had placed an order for executing ERP solutions in their institution.
Mr.Ramanathan, final year BE (CS) student at SRM, is now the Founder Chairman of Tringle Technologies at Chenna, but prefers to call himself as the Chief Technology officer at Tringle. He is youth member at NCC Madurai and son of our member Mr.KN.Muthappan of KNM Photogaphy who does all the video shoot for our NCC Meetings.
Mr.Ramanathan presented one of his solutions aimed at making life easy for retail store keepers and supermarkets under the Business Presentation category on 9th July 2017. Here is what he talked on "Tringle : The Super Power Retail Cloud : Era of Retail Automation"
One of our Youth Member Mr.Venkat made his business presentation on 9th July 2017.
Venkat who was then out of his Civil engineering picked up the most relevant item in his field: Bricks. He made an elaborate presentation which can be viewed below.
Mr.Venkat is proud that he is getting enquiries from NCC members after the presentation and he has started supplying to sites beyond Madurai.
NCC wishes the very best to Venkat. He can be reached at : 9894225258
GST is the buzz word across India. While many of us are still grappling to understand the nuts and bolts of GST, NCC Madurai aptly organized the monthly meeting on 11th June 2017 addressed by none other than Mr.V.Nagappan of Devakottai.
Mr.V Nagappan is one among the charter members of Nagarathar Chamber of Commerce at Chennai. He is Stock broker, Value investor and Author.
Mr.Nagappan explained the basics of GST in lucid manner with simple examples and excel sheet workings. Apart from the members who attended the meeting, the youtube video now has more than 10000 views!
An young engineering graduate Mr.Lakshmanan of Devakottai has started his company "ECOWIN". He manufactures UPVC doors and windows. In today's world when availabIlity of quality timber, labour and environmental issues, UPVC products are catching up fast as the only alternative. And Mr.Lakshmanan has positioned himself in this space.
Mr.Lakshmanan has won the Business Case study competition at IBCN 2017 at Dubai.
Ecowin Upvc Windows mainly targets on affordability over
other European brands.
UPVC Windows are Current Trend Which avoids Cutting
of tree and less expensive too when compared with wooden windows.
Sliding Window, Openable/Casement Window, Sliding
Door, Openable door, Luver window & Fixed window are some our products, We
also do partition work for offices.
Ecowin is a Madurai Based Company we extend services
all over tamilnadu.
Think, Innovate and succeed is the ultimate goal of
our company.
Interested members can contact Mr.Lakshman at 9578680808
Mr.Soma Valliyappan is a writer, speaker, trainer, and an expert in the areas of Human Resource Management, Personality development, and Financial Investments. He has written over 45 books in Tamil and English on various subjects including self-development, stock market, emotional intelligence, time management, sales, leadership, and personality development.
He addressed our NCC Meeting on the topic "Millions to BILLION" - aimed at scaling up our businesses and enterprises to greater heights.
It is truly a blessing when someone refer's a client / customer to us. But a Nagarathar is too humble to talk about himself. We are grown in such a simple lifestyle that even our closest relative / friend doesn't know completely about our enterprise. As a result, we miss out on getting referrals which could have had material impact on our business.
At NCC, it is part of the protocol to encourage each member to standup and speak about all their business activity. They can display their products, make a power point presentation or give sample for the members to experience their products.
Once the audience know what you do, there is a greater chance of increasing your business volumes.
So starting speaking about yourself and promote your business.
Members who wish to make presentation can contact President NCC Madurai Dr.Ramakrishnan for a slot. He can be reached @ 9362253355
Thanks to the magnanimity of Thiru Manickam Ramaswamy, Correspondent, Thiagarajar School of Management for extending all the support to conduct our monthly meetings at one of India's finest Management schools.
We meet every month - 2nd Sunday at TSM, Thiruparankundram, Madurai from 10 AM to 12.30 PM
Nagarathar Chamber of Commerce - Madurai Chapter was inaugurated on 2nd April 2017. Monthly meetings of the Madurai Chapter would be on 2nd Sunday of every month, subject to change if required.
Officials from Nagarathar Chamber of Commerce in Chennai - President Mr.EMC.Palaniappan, Secretary Mr.Muthu Subramanian, Membership Development Chairman Mr.Annamalai along with Mentor Mr.Thirupathi of Emerald Tyres inaugurated the Madurai chapter and installed the Madurai Team of officials and core committee members:
Dr.V.Ramakrishnan - President
Mr.SM.P.Arunachalam - Mentor
Mr.Chinniah Velayutham - Secretary
Mr.PL.Ramanathan - Treasurer
Dr. Muthuraman - Member
Mr.Annamalai - Member
Mr.SPA.Ganesh - Member
Mr.P.Ramaswamy - Member
Mr.Kathir Kamanathan of Chella Software Private Ltd, Madurai delivered the Keynote address.
The VISION of
Nagarathar Chamber of Commerce is :
To be a catalyst for fostering entrepreneurial
spirit among Nagarathar Community.
The MISSION of
Nagarathar Chamber of Commerce is:
To inculcate sustainable and credible
Entrepreneurship among the Nagarathar through networking and training with
active participation from the younger generation.
The OBJECTIVES of Nagarathar Chamber
of Commerce are:
To
propagate and popularise the idea of promoting Entrepreneurship among the
Members to establish business activities such as manufacturing, trading,
providing services in international and internal trade.
To
create a sustainable networking platform for a meaningful interation in
business related activities among the Members.
To
encourage and provide guidance to younger generation to pursue the
entrepreneurship.
To
support the Members to scale up their business.
To
create a dedicated fund to provide financial support to needy and support
worthy business proposals / projects subject to an evaluation of the
business model by a competent and experienced team of professional /
organizations.
Chennai NCC's Membership Development Chairman INNOVATIVE ANNAMALAI moderating the Q&A session
Mr.Kasiraja of Lakshmi Papers Madurai adding his views on 'EXPECTATIONS FROM NCC'
Dr.Shanthi Muthuraman adding value to the discussion.
Mr.Karuppanchetty of Amaravathiputhur - who is based in Hyderabad on "Venture Funding'
