My competition is with myself: Aditya Group Chairman Image

My competition is with myself: Aditya Group Chairman

by IBNS 12 Sep 2016, 11:43 am

#Aditya Group Chairman

Anirban Aditya, the Chairman of Aditya Group, is all for sports, though the group plans to explore different sectors and expand their business. With education, entertainment, sports and hospitality under their belt, he speaks to IBNS correspondent Sudipto Maity about his 'method in madness' and what lies ahead for him.

Anirban, what drove you to pursue a career in business?

As my father was a businessman, it was up to me, after him, to carry forward his legacy to the best of my capability.  He has always been an inspiration to me, the driving force that pushes me to achieve success. I try to implement his principles and his teachings at every twist and turn in life. I won't lie, it takes a lot of effort to live up to his reputation, he set the benchmark quite high, but I am trying the best to my capability to not let him down by anything that I do.

Tell us a bit about your daily routine


Well, it starts when I make my daily trip to my office, where I go about the regular business meetings. From there, I often make trips to the different sectors of our Business, the Schools, the hospitality sectors, the new Sports sectors that are coming up. It's a lot to do, but I try to get as much done, as I can.

Do you believe in the saying there's a method in the madness? How do you go about your job?

Definitely. It takes a certain level of madness to be able to achieve greatness. And it doesn't come cheap. Along the way, one must make many choices but at the end of the day it all comes down to the people. We have great teams working for us, whom we can trust and count on. And none of the things that we do could be possible without any of them.

I try my best to do right by people. It's the first thing I've learnt growing up as well. We are a close knit Group and take pride in what it is that we do. But things don't always turn out the way you want, but it's okay, rarely anything ever does.

You (I'm referring to the group in general) started off in the education sector and slowly ventured out. Was there a fixed plan somewhere or did you go with the flow?


Education was our first and largest sector, but gradually we entered the Hospitality, and Entertainment sectors, and are now introducing Sports as a part of our Group as well. There's is always a plan, but it's good to be flexible and go with the flow too.

We are expanding our Hospitality sector as we want people outside of Kolkata to be able to experience our services too. Our reach shouldn't just be confined to the city. We are re-doing our Hotel in Durgapur namely “Hotel Luxor” which is now coming up as a Boutique hotel which will be one of its kind in Durgapur. We have just re-launched a branch of  Babumashai, a fine dining multi-cuisine restaurant and we have also re-launched a branch of “Baraf”, a bar-cum restaurant in “Hotel Luxor” in Durgapur. 'Noodle Oodle', an authentic Chinese restaurant is a new venture that was started by my wife, the Managing Director of the company, and is doing quite well. We have expansion plans for the same.

 Our designing partner 'Say Cheese’ is our creative partner. It is an initiative of my brother Mr. Ankit Aditya who is the Vice- Chairman of Aditya Group. Say Cheese is in charge of meeting with all the creative aspects required by us and everyone out there. And I have to tell you, their ideas and designs are nothing like you've ever seen before. Trust me on this one. Say Cheese is a creative agency who caters to the creative needs of several corporate and individuals.


Entertainment is an important part of all our lives. It helps break the monotony and mundane routine of everyday. Hence, our Production house, based in Mumbai and Kolkata, 'Gold-Reel Production and Entertainment', is putting in all it's efforts in bringing to you, the best of entertainment. We try to keep up with your expectations and bring to you, even more exhilarating projects, than we've completed this far.

Also, everyone should be encouraged to take part in different forms of sports, because with the rise of the digital age, physical activity among youngsters is almost non-existent. So, it is up to us, as their peers, to inspire them to be better versions of themselves, and more importantly to be fit. This comes first and foremost. Few of our initiative in this sector would be ABBA the abbreviated form of Aditya Barun Burman Academy, which is a cricket training academy, where we give the best to produce promising cricketers for our country. We are also associated with ATK, an association named as Aditya ATK Academy. This academy will be taking care of all the basic necessities from accommodation to education, from training to fitness of the under 14 players. We are soon to come up with our football training academy too. Our sports complex in Barasat is soon going to be one of its kind where we will be providing specialised training on Adventure Sports along with several indoor and outdoor sports.


With the group venturing out in various sectors, what are you (Anirban) most comfortable with?

Aditya Group is my father's legacy, and choosing one sector as my favourite is really hard, almost impossible. There is a part of them in me, as there is a part of me in them, and I aspire to do great things with each and all of them.

However, if I absolutely have to choose, I would put my finger on Sports because it is something that has always been very close to my heart. I have always loved playing Cricket and have played for various Leagues. Hence I would like to lay emphasis on this particular aspect. We encourage inter-team Sports Events as it provides for our members to get a chance to show and implement Team spirit which our youngsters can learn much from. It teaches us many values in various forms and also gives us a chance to have some fun on-field.

So many of your projects are based out of the main city (Kolkata). Is it deliberate/a part of your plan?

There is always a plan behind every move of an entrepreneur, and I believe in revealing it with actions. Our primary goal is to nurture the human life since his birth. Whatever be his journey we will have something to cater for his needs, from educational to medical, we will serve him with the best.

Our Barasat Campus which is a little out of the main city is a visionary statement of our group, the options and facilities that we can provide there with the vast area that we cover is not something quite feasible within the central location of the city. We are setting up our Barasat Campus as a model school with world class facilities at a most affordable range. Not only are we coming up with a Sports complex we are also entering agricultural industry where we intend organic farming in “Aditya Bhoomi” an Organic Farming unit.

Our Hospitality units are spread in and around the city; we have our restaurants spread across the parameters of the city from DumDum (North) to Garia (South). We are also expanding beyond the city borders and have our mark in Durgapur already.

As a sports enthusiast, what sport/s did you take up? Do you actively participate in sports now?

As I've mentioned before, Cricket is one of my favourite sports and we have recently launched a Cricket Academy called 'Aditya Barun Burman Academy'. We have also tied up with ATK where the under fourteen ATK players are now Adityans. Sports run in my veins, and I cannot stay away from it. My younger brother and I have pledged to never let sports go out of us, and hence, we engage ourselves in frequent football matches with other employees and friends.

Apart from Football and Cricket, do you intend on investing in any other sport/s?

Like cricket and football are two of my favourite sport, I believe every individual has his/her own preference for sport. Aditya Group believes in respecting everyone’s choice, hence we understand the need for options. There are very limited options for not so regular sports; hence, we are coming up with a sports complex in our Barasat campus, where we will provide ample number of opportunities for the students. We are introducing adventure sports where we will begin with roller skating, rock climbing, mountain biking for now and increase more options in near future.

We also provide special training for indoor sports like carom, chess, table tennis, etc and outdoor sports like swimming, badminton, basketball, etc.


Tell us a bit about your partnership with ATK.

Athletico de Kolkata abbreviated to be ATK and Aditya Academy have joined hands to come up with a new tie up named Aditya ATK Academy. This academy has taken up the charge to train under fourteen players of Bengal, selected through a number of well defined processes, and to provide them with all the amenities required to take the name of the state to new levels. Where ATK provides them with football training under specialised trainers, Aditya Academy takes care of their education, boarding, lodging and other infrastructural requirements to give these kids a well defined life. So, the under fourteen team of ATK are now Adityans.

What's in store for you?

Well I believe future is unseen, I can’t predict what is in store for me, but I can definitely foresee a future for my group. If you come across the logo of our group, you will find a star, I aim to take my group to a position where it will shine like that star, a star which has its own light to illuminate the surroundings.

Do you believe in competition? Are you competing with any other group/s? Are you influenced by any group/s?

I absolutely believe in competition, but my competition is with myself. I everyday wake up to be better than yesterday. I wish to take my group to a level that even my father has not dreamt about, so I aim to leave no stone unturned to reach my goals. I compete to increase the efficiency and performance of my group, and aim to increase the strength of the group.  
 
How important is the City of Joy in terms of Aditya Group's expansion?

Kolkata is an internal part of Aditya Group, we are a Kolkata based company and we will never leave our roots. We hope to achieve new heights here very soon. We want Aditya Group's presence to be on every citizen's mind and soul. We wish to leave a mark on them and will never let them forget us.

Do you plan to ply your trade in other states?

Yes, we are working on our expansion plans. We are strengthening our roots now, because we have to extend our branches not only nationally but globally. We target to leave our footprints beyond the boundaries in a way that cannot be erased.
 
India Blooms News Service (IBNS) 

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