RELATIONSHIP KING

Billionaire Binod Chaudhary says the fact that he has built a business empire from Nepal is proof that anyone can succeed anywhere if they can earn the respect of others.

Perhaps dreaming is in the blood of the Chaudhary family. They are never content with the status quo, and always ready to apply grit and ambition to do whatever it takes to fulfill their dreams. Originating from an impoverished and landlocked nation in South Asia, Chaudhary Group (CG Global) has grown from humble beginnings 140 years ago, to become an international conglomerate that proudly flies the “Made in Nepal” flag in more than 30 countries with investments exceeding US$1 billion.

The man behind this empire is the 63-year-old chairman Binod Chaudhary, the third generation of his family to run the business and the first Nepalese to join the Forbes magazine billion-dollar club with a net worth of $1.5 billion.

Mr Chaudhary erases all the stereotypes about billionaires as straitlaced and aloof, displaying such an outgoing and amiable personality that anyone who meets him feels welcome and relaxed.

He is known for his ability to build intricate and lasting relationships, extending bonhomie beyond his friends and business partners to his rivals and even those with diametrically opposed views to his own.

“My biggest asset is my relationship. My biggest strength is my relationship. I think this will be the biggest asset that I’m going to leave as a legacy to my children,” Mr Chaudhary tells Asia Focus, a youthful smile creeping across his face.

Building long-lasting bonds is at the core of everything he does, and it all starts with trust and respect.

“You have to be respectful to others, no matter who the person is. It doesn’t have to be a powerful politician or a big businessman; it could be anyone,” he says.

“Whenever I meet anybody, I try first of all to set aside quality time to talk to that person, even if it’s only for two minutes. There is honesty in that conversation. And you have to make the sincere effort to continue to build on that friendship through whatever means. It’s not easy and this takes a lot of effort.”

Part of being respectful, he says, is never trying to impose one’s own value system on others. “I may have a certain way of thinking, but if you disagree with me, I have to appreciate that. I don’t have to fight to say that I am right and you are wrong.”

Mr Chaudhary emphasises that one should also be respectful of the other person’s expectations as a relationship is never a one-way street. “It’s always two ways. If I want something from you, you would also want something from me and you have to understand and honour that.”

BUILDING THE EMPIRE

The history of the Chaudhary Group dates back to the 19th century. Mr Chaudhary’s grandfather Bhuramull was the epitome of a small man with big dreams, whose courage set an example for succeeding generations of the family.

At the age of 18, he left his tiny village in Rajasthan in western India to search for better life and career opportunities. He ended up in Nepal where he started to travel around selling Indian fabrics and textiles. He subsequently opened a small textile shop and brought his son, the father of Mr Chaudhary, into the business.

After Bhuramull passed away, Lunkaran Chaudhary took over the reins and continued to carve a niche in the fabric trade, while also bringing the business to the next level.

He later established Arun Emporium, Nepal’s first and largest modern department store, and the import-export firm Arun Impex, dealing mainly with businesses from Japan and Korea. Attentively watching his father doing business was young Binod.

When his father fell ill with heart trouble, Mr Chaudhary, as the eldest of three children, had to abandon his studies and step into his father’s shoes. He was only 18 years old.

It was a challenging time given the conditions that existed in Nepal at the time: infrastructure was underdeveloped, professional talent extremely scarce and the business environment generally was not conducive. But the young Mr Chaudhary already had his plans in mind. Some might have called them dreams, but he doesn’t mind.

“I am a dreamer,” he says, “I always say I’m a small man, from a small country with big dreams. I believe that entrepreneurs are dreamers. When they dream, they don’t think whether they have the resources or not. If you are a dreamer and you have commitment in your dreams, you will know how to put together the resources to make it happen.”

To him, failure was never an option. Mr Chaudhary did not want to use the fact that he was young and lacked experience as an excuse. Rather, he wanted to create a global enterprise that brought the Nepalese name to the world.

Dreams and vision alone are never enough, however. Success also requires great determination and perseverance.

“I’ve been very ambitious, and entering business at a very early age has its own challenge, but it has brought me a different sense of confidence,” Mr Chaudhary says.

“You need to prepare to fight, no matter how difficult the path when the journey begins, and do whatever it takes to bring in the right kind of elements and resources, including people. Put it all together and prepare to work 24/7 without saying no,” he says.

The family values he inherited from his father and grandfather have played a big part in the group’s current success, he adds.

“They demonstrated a strong sense of business ethics which is the foundation for building a strong enterprise that will have a long life that people can appreciate and associate with.”

THAILAND CONNECTION

One of the products that has helped to underpin the success and stability of the company is Wai Wai, an international instant noodle brand that originated in Thailand.

Mr Chaudhary had observed that a lot of Nepalese who travelled back from Thailand brought cartons of instant noodles to sell in their shops, so he knew this was a product that he could do something with. He decided to make a trip to Thailand and visit Thai Preserved Food Factory Co Ltd, which produced and manufactured Wai Wai noodles, and discuss a possible business collaboration.

At that point, he says, the owner was not confident about bringing the business to Nepal given the country’s poverty and poor infrastructure; however, that didn’t stop Mr Chaudhary.

“[The owner] could see the enthusiasm in me. Although he did not believe that this would work in Nepal, he believed in me and that’s why he decided to support me and taught me how to make Wai Wai,” he says.

Mr Chaudhary converted a flour mill that supplied the family’s biscuit business to manufacturing this new product, which quickly proved to be highly popular in Nepal, and later he expanded to India. Today the company sells about 2.5 billion packs a year, controlling about a two percent share of the world’s noodle market.

“I’m a great admirer of Thailand and this company that has given our group this kind of status,” he says. “There is a big role that Wai Wai had played in my life and I will always remain grateful to Thailand, Thai people and the friends in Thai Preserved Food.”

The international presence of Wai Wai, however, was not enough to satisfy the hunger of the visionary entrepreneur. In the 1990s, even as the Maoist insurgency started to affect business and political life in Nepal, Mr Chaudhary believed he had accumulated sufficient experience to take the company to a multinational level.

He decided to travel to Singapore and set up Cinnovation, the first-ever Nepalese corporation abroad, aiming to provide world-class services and products such as hotels, real estate, consumer goods, financial services and cement. The group currently has 48 companies and over 4,300 staff under its wings across the globe.

BUILDING TRUST

Over the past few decades, CG Corp Global has been sustainably and responsibly living up to its corporate slogan “Touching lives everyday”, with a global footprint in sectors from fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) to electronics, education, cement, energy, hospitality, realty development to financial services, telecoms, Ayurveda, biotech, and engineering and construction.

“You see the demand and you feel that you are tempted to touch it,” explains Mr Chaudhary. “That is touching lives: how do you touch lives from the time you wake up to the time you sleep? You have to map the life of an average person and we have tried to find everything which is associated with their lives. We want to be part of your life.”

However, Mr Chaudhary says having such ambitions can be a “risky proposition” as it is not easy for a person to accept a brand or product and want to associate it with their lives, unless he or she has a positive views toward that brand. “To me, being big is easy. But being most respected is difficult. Thankfully, we did it.”

At the heart of any successful brand, there must be consistency in terms of performance and quality, he says. “We never compromise on quality. We never try to compromise the interests of consumers for short-term benefits. We’ve always lived with the ethos of the world that the consumer is the king. We can’t impose our likes on the consumers.”

DAWN OF DISRUPTION

Despite the group’s tremendous success, Mr Chaudhary is nowhere near stopping or slowing down. Instead, he is preparing for the massive paradigm shift that is being g brought about by technological advancement.

“Today’s world is completely different. Everybody, whether young or old, coming from a business family or outside, needs to know that the world is going to see a much bigger form of disruption because of technology,” he says. “What is relevant today may not be as relevant tomorrow. So how do you strike a balance between what you do now and where the world is going?”

He uses his own FMCG business as an example. “Our whole distribution chain is going to become irrelevant. The dealers and retailers — the entire ecosystem is going to go off track. You have to be prepared for that. How are you going to handle the vacuum that is going to be created?

“Artificial intelligence (AI) is going to make millions of jobs redundant. How do you find a new way to make these people engaged? Otherwise there will be social unrest. There is going to be a new set of opportunities and challenges.”

His advice for the new generation: “Today you can be anywhere to create products and services. Don’t feel constrained by what you don’t have, whether it’s money, experience or business background. If we can do it out of Nepal, a country that has gone through a series of political transitions, anybody can do it.”

In his view, successful businessmen do not necessarily have to go to top business schools. There is no monopoly of wisdom. If the best business schools created the best businesspeople and entrepreneurs, there would be no places in those schools — they would be too crowded.

“The world has become highly integrated, information-led, and technology-led, and it has evolved so that supporting infrastructure has become more of a liability than an asset. That’s the food for thought I would like to leave for the new generation,” he concludes.

To me, being big is easy. But being most respected is difficult. Thankfully, we did it

Don’t feel constrained by what you don’t have, whether it’s money, experience or business background. If we can do it out of Nepal, anybody can do it