"You need to be more than an entrepreneur": Avneet Singh, Director, Super Plastronics

Avneet Singh Marwah, Director and CEO of Super Plastronics (Kodak HD LED TV India) shares his success story and the business journey with DQ Channels.

Tell us about yourself. Could you please elaborate on your educational background and your experience in your early years?

Prior to joining SPPL, I worked for a couple organizations like CPR Capital Services and hold an MBA degree when I joined SPPL I categorically asked my chairman where I should work.His response amazed me. He said ‘I will not assign you a position or dictate to your work. You must decide where you want to work, because if you want to earn the top position you must be comprehensive.’ Therefore, I decided to start from the basics. For the first 3 years I worked in every department the company had, from production to finance. After gaining appropriate experience in every department, I realized that production training was the turning point in my career., It was the place where I learnt about product backward integration, quality and HR, and from there I was promoted to business development.

What made you choose your family business instead of becoming an entrepreneur?

I think one needs to garner and exercise his/her top entrepreneur skills to initiate and carry forward a family business. There is a pressure of growth month by month. You cannot treat the company as you would a startup, where if requisite growth numbers and profit aren’t achieved, you can take a decision to stop it. In a business that has already been set up, there is a lot of stake and value attachment to the business and it is not with us but with every family business. In my humble opinion, you need to be more than an entrepreneur today to run a business.

You are a brand licensee partner of Kodak, what was it that made this collaboration possible?

Kodak was looking for a partner, someone with whom they could envisage working with long-term. Their requirements for experience in manufacturing along with some of the best infrastructure in the country, were met by us, and thus this collaboration was made possible

What kind of distribution channels has Kodak been working with?

Currently we have 29 offices across India and 350 service centers. We are working in three different modes.

1. Dealer and distributor network through our regional office.
2. Online through Flipkart and Amazon.
3. Modern retail directly from the company.

What is the number of your retail presence?

We have recently started our offline distribution in 4 states.

What are Kodak’s retail expansion plans in the country?

In the month of July, we are starting our retail, with four more states.

What is the current geographical coverage of Kodak presence in the country? What are the next steps for offline sales?

Currently Kodak HD led TV is available in 10,000 pin codes across India, through offline and online presence. We are expanding fast and by the end of the year we will be present across all states in India.

What is your current market share and how much market share you are aspiring to capture by 2020?

Kodak’s target is to achieve 3% market share by end of 2017-18. Our mission is that by 2020 , we are able to capture 7-8% market share in India in the consumer electronics segment