Vinay Maloo: Demonstrating the Fundamental Qualities of a Great Leader

Vinay Maloo is a focused leader who sets clear goals for everyone in the company

BRAND CONNECT | PAID POST

Published: Nov 29, 2021 06:25:51 PM IST

Vinay Maloo (Chairman, Enso Group)

Leaders are meant to stand out from the crowd. They not only lift their people’s vision but also motivate them to perform better. They also help people build a personality beyond limitations. One such leader is Vinay Maloo, a commerce graduate from St. Xavier’s College, University of Calcutta, envisaged the potential of the telecommunications sector and founded Himachal Futuristic Communication Limited in 1988. It was one of India’s first private telecom companies. The company’s market capitalization grew to USD 4 billion.

As the visionary of Enso Group, a diversified global enterprise, he forayed into promising sectors like solar energy, mineral mining, oil & gas, infrastructure, real estate, and healthcare. He thought ahead of his time as he endeavored into telecom and natural resources. He also encouraged other corporations to follow suit. He believes that natural resources are the backbone of all industries.

Vinay Maloo is a focused leader who sets clear goals for everyone in the company. He encourages people to make mistakes and learn from them. He believes in an open work culture where employees give feedback to improve the overall business. He has the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He considers the feedback and makes necessary changes. He has demonstrated the fundamental qualities of a great leader through the right partnerships he chose, the latest technologies he invested in, and the right talent he hired to share and accomplish his vision. At Enso Group, he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business. He has a talented team of professionals from different backgrounds and nationalities that help him run the business smoothly.

He is an ardent Jain, vegetarian by birth, and follows the teachings of Jain. He is grateful for this habit as it helps him in simplistic thinking. He completed his early schooling in Kolkata. His father was a Chartered Accountant and Vinay was determined to follow his footsteps until his entrepreneurial drive took him in a different direction. He left Chartered Accountancy midway and started his first major business in 1988, after a marble mining project near Udaipur in Rajasthan.

As a prominent businessman, Vinay remains immersed in his work and delivers excellence in every sector he ventures into. He focuses on reputation and excellence whilst staying low in branding and corporate communication. He strongly believes in a happy and positive attitude towards work, and not letting others affect that. In his spare time, he practices yoga and meditation as it helps him regain his energy. He also enjoys going to the gym as it helps build positivity. Currently, he resides in Mumbai.

Turning Challenges into Opportunities

“It is challenging working in emerging economies, especially where bureaucracy hinders growth and fair play. However, with best practices, we have tried to overcome hurdles that have come our way to the best possible extent,” he says.

Another challenge the Group faced was the pandemic. During this time, where governments and business institutions have had to cope with life and death situations on one hand, and an unfathomable economic scenario on the other, the unity shown by nations has been exemplary. The Group made it a point to stay focused while allowing people to work from home. They have tried to stay low and focus on work, rather than be distracted by the noise outside. This helps them focus on the work at hand versus being digressed.

Vinay believes in grabbing new opportunities. He believes that the most important decisions are always assessment and feasibility of a new venture or project. He has become tech-savvy and adapted to the quick business cycles that have emerged as a result of smartphones and global connectivity that have shrunk the world to a smaller size.

Speaking about leadership, he says, “It is channelizing the resources of my organization towards the constructive output. It also means increasing that capacity from time to time. The most important decisions I make daily are ones where I have to decide where I can prioritize the time of my organization for best results.”

Future Outlooks

The Enso Group plans to be more risk aversive and take a slightly more calculated approach to their investments as they don’t know what is in store for them in the post-covid world. The stock market is doing well despite COVID-19, but that is not an ultimate indicator. The new world order is still a blind spot.

Vinay Maloo concludes by saying, “There is no shortcut to success. Dream big but work hard to achieve them. Have a burning desire and an ardent fighting spirit. Have a larger-than-life approach and always think big and be inspired.”

The pages slugged ‘Brand Connect’ are equivalent to advertisements and are not written and produced by Forbes India journalists.