Nikhil B

Vice President - Marketing & HR, Madhus Garage Equipment.

- Sarada Vishnubhatla

It all began with my grandfather failing his matriculation exams way back in the early 1900s in the erstwhile Kingdom of Mysuru. But for his father – a well-known barrister of the times – the news was indigestible. He gave my grandfather an ultimatum to fend for himself financially but that he will be given two meals a day and a place to sleep at night.

A proud boy even then, my grandfather found a job as a linesman with the local electricity board. His kind-hearted supervisor refused to see him as a failure. With his help, my grandfather finished his schooling and joined the college in the late 1930s. He financed his graduation by selling subscriptions for a popular monthly magazine.

One fine day, he sought to buy an automotive component shop with financial help from his childhood friends. And that is how Madhus Mill Stores was born in Mysore. He was farsighted to sense a boom building up in the passenger car and two-wheeler segments and made a well-timed investment in pneumatic tires. Business flourished and he set up a second tire outlet in 1970 in Bangalore. But the joy was shortlived. He was soon diagnosed with cancer and passed away at the young age of 52 years. His sons were forced to juggle between attending college and taking care of the business.

As his second son, my father – B.M. Ravi – was delegated to take care of the Bangalore outlet. In 1981, my father opened his own tire store, Madhus Enterprises and in 1986-87, he established Madhus Garage Equipment. Today, Madhus is present in over 35 locations across India and has training centers in Bangalore, Delhi and the latest one is coming up in Pune, which should be ready by October this year. We have over 110 service engineers, a little more than 60 sales executives and about 240 employees in total.