Businessman Siddhartha Lal got some vital tips from his mother, the luxury store founder Anita Lal, in running his motorcycle business. Wh...
Businessman Siddhartha Lal got some vital tips from his mother, the luxury store founder Anita Lal, in running his motorcycle business.
When the stories of success of some of India’s biggest businesses and the people who steered them are told, more often than not, we are told stories about men—fathers, sons, nephews, and so on. But we cannot fully tell the story of the Lal family, and their quest to turn the Royal Enfield brand around, without taking a moment to examine the role played by Anita Lal, Vikram’s wife, Siddhartha’s mother, and an astute businesswoman in her own right.
Many years ago, when Vikram wanted to change the way his family would approach their business and the chain of succession, he consulted his wife. Years later, Siddhartha too would find himself looking to his mother to find new ways to revitalise the way he did things. When he took over the reins of the company, Siddhartha had to deal with the fact that Eicher had a commercial vehicle, tractor-oriented team which dealt with asset products and not consumer ones. ‘So, lots of things were attempted. He knew what he wanted, but somehow, it did not come together,’ Siddhartha told me about his...
