A 'Natural' Way To Business Success

By joining his uncle Dr. V P Sidhan’s single-brand soap manufacturing enterprise in 1983, A V Anoop was, in fact taking a big risk. But the young man’s hard work and self-confidence have paid off, handsomely well. Today, as he stands tall as the leader of one of the two ‘most trusted brands in India’ from Kerala according to the Brand Equity Survey published by The Economic Times, Anoop still finds time to indulge in his other passions, film and theatre, and even to make business sense out of it. Destination Kerala spoke to the man with the ‘midas touch’ who has transformed every opportunity into business success.

- Jose Kunnappally

I meet Dr. A V Anoop, 55, Managing Director of AVA Group, at his Kochi office near Kacherippady on a Thursday afternoon as the monsoon is playing out in full fury outside. He is in Kerala very often though his business is headquartered in Chennai. The Dr prefix is because he has a PhD from Medicina Alternativa Institute, affiliated to The Open International University for Complimentary Medicines, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Medimix, the world’s largest selling Ayurvedic soap, was launched in 1969 by his maternal uncle Dr. V P Sidhan of the famed Cholayil family of Thrissur which has been practising Ayurveda for five generations. The business was divided amicably in 2000 between his son V S Pradeep and Anoop. AVA Group was thus formed and given right to sell Medimix only in South India (Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Seemandhra and Telangana) while Pradeep retained all-India (except South India) and overseas rights. Anoop also received Sanjeevanam, the Ayurvedic Food, Therapy and Beauty Centers business which he had started. Dr. Sidhan passed away in 2011.

FORAY INTO ENTREPRENEURSHIP

I start by asking him how it was to work with Dr. Sidhan? “My uncle was a visionary and a staunch practitioner of authentic Ayurveda. His simplicity continues to guide us in our daily lives even today. For example, he never wanted the business to grow too big or go public. He wanted it to be of reasonable size and all of us to live in peace happily.”