The
sudden shocking demise of entrepreneur V.G. Siddhartha has yet again disclosed
the dark side of the business. Known to have built the first of its kind
exclusive coffee shop franchise by the name ‘Café Coffee Day’ in India, Siddhartha
has always preferred to stay away from the limelight.
On
one fine morning, Siddhartha asked his driver to take him to a bridge near
Mangaluru. He dropped down to take a walk and soon disappeared. After 36 hours,
his body was recovered with a blood-stained face and clenched fists in
Netravati river. The last letter he purposefully left behind has put all his
business dealings under scrutiny and has paved way for intense speculation.
The
particular letter addressed to his board members and the CCD family read, “My
intention was never to cheat or mislead anybody, and I have failed as an
entrepreneur.” In addition, he took responsibility for not able to create a sustainable
business model and accused the tax department, private equity firms and its
leaders for exerting immense pressure on him thereby forcing him to miserably end
his life this way.
The
income tax department had a firm hold on Siddhartha’s shares and they prevented
him from liquidating them at a time when he was in a desperate need for money.
There was indeed a political motive behind it too as Siddhartha was the son of
a senior Congress politician. As Siddhartha aptly pointed out, it was only a
business failure and not a fraud and hence he must not have been treated this
way and that too in a country like India which is lacking investors and entrepreneurs
all these years.
Café
Coffee Day, a subsidiary of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited opened its first
outlet in Bengaluru in 1996. The coffee shops were an instant hit among the
youngsters as it soon became the preferred meet up spots for signing
significant business deals, for hanging out with friends and even for making love
proposals! Earlier there were no decent spots to meet and talk over a cup of
coffee. Siddhartha came up with this wonderful concept of offering quality
coffee at an air-conditioned space that was quite ideal for both formal and
informal occasions. CCD’s 1700 outlets all over India have enabled us to get
access to this world-class amenity from even the smallest of the towns courtesy
of Siddhartha’s efforts.
Our
nation possesses limited natural resources, a pool of unskilled youth, very
less human capital and relies completely on foreign investors for bringing in
new employment opportunities. In such a dire situation, it is only the fresh
blood passed by young entrepreneurs like V.G. Siddhartha, who is an epitome of
energy and creativity, can come to our rescue. Hence we need more of this calibre
of businessmen to build global brands and thereby change the lives of millions
of Indians.
Today
Austria’s capital Vienna, where the original coffeehouse culture was born has
its own Café Coffee Day outlet standing elegantly right next to the Opera. Certainly,
Siddhartha’s brand has taken our country to the global stage and CCD is
something that each and every Indian has to be really proud of forever…
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