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Why this MD believes a ‘small company’ mindset is key to healthy business growth

Kumar Chander, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Wipro Unza and Director on the Board of Wipro Unza Holdings, Singapore, calls out the three valuable lessons about employee engagement and business growth he has learnt in his 25 years with the company.

In my interactions with new employees at Wipro Unza, one question that often comes up is how have I managed to be with the company for over 25 years, and still be satisfied? My answer to them is simple: my journey with the company has been exciting – in fact, I have never felt like I have only been working with one company.

I have worked in different roles throughout my career with Wipro Unza and through these roles, gained rich experiences that have taught me three valuable lessons about employee engagement and business growth.

Firstly, the importance of leadership stability cannot be underscored. It ensures consistency and continuity, and showcases to employees what commitment and tenacity looks like in the business world. More significantly, stable leadership builds within the company a high sense of ownership and pride.

To develop committed leaders in a company, providing opportunities and entrepreneurial freedom is key. Since very early on in my career with the sales and marketing team at Wipro Unza, the opportunities given to me had taught me that with these opportunities and freedom come responsibility. When I made certain decisions or decided to take risks with my decisions, I knew that I needed to carefully evaluate my moves, and this helped me build confidence as a leader.

With stable leadership, employees can be better engaged and that is one of the key steps to ensuring a healthy business growth.

Having leaders, and even employees, who dare to dream and put in their last pennies to make these dreams a reality is also key. The ability to dream big and the persistence to execute the dreams have allowed leaders at Wipro Unza to grow our company from having just one brand to over 30 brands, and from having operations in one country to several throughout in Asia and Europe.

The last lesson I have learnt – and probably the most important one to date – is the need for businesses to retain the small company mindset. This mindset builds the hunger for success and is good fodder in remaining nimble-footed despite any growth that has been achieved. Such a mindset also teaches leaders and employees to not only spot opportunities that can grow the business, but to create sustainable opportunities.

When I first started with Wipro Unza in Malaysia 12 years ago, the company was up against more established industry players who were aggressively marketing their brands.

This ‘small company’ mindset has served Wipro Unza well. Holding on to this thinking, we are constantly challenging ourselves to think out of the box so as to achieve better and more sustainable growth than our competition.

When I first started with Wipro Unza in Malaysia 12 years ago, the company was up against more established industry players who were aggressively marketing their brands. Understanding that we were new and smaller compared to them meant that we made conservative moves to carve a brand that is unique and differentiated. We stayed on course and sought opportunities that were better suited for us.

As a result, our brands like Safi, Enchanteur and Romano have today carved a niche for themselves in relation to other brands in the market. This might not have been possible if we had decided to practice a ‘big company’ mindset and take on the more established players in the industry back then with the same aggressiveness they had.

These lessons have indeed taught me well, and as a leader with the company, it has been my mission to impart the lessons to my employees so as to ensure that they are kept engaged. Their engagement with the company is key to ensure a healthy business growth.

Photo / Provided

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