| The spacious and
beautiful office of Raman Dhawan,
the quiet and unassuming MD of Tata Africa Holdings, has a
lot of greenery with a mini-golf course on the terrace; quaintly
characteristic of the continent his company operates in. Starting
with Zambia in 1977, Dhawan has carefully nurtured the Tata
endeavour in Africa.
His well thought-out strategy of crafting partnerships
with Tata Group companies has created a footprint for the
Group over several business verticals in nine African countries.
He has also strictly followed the Tata Code of Conduct while
doing business in a faraway land; so much so that it has
become a Tata imprint in the continent.
Dhawan has contributed greatly to changing African perceptions
about the ‘Made in India’ tag. He spoke to Christabelle
Noronha about his vision for the Tata Group in Africa and
particularly for South Africa, which has been his home for
more than 20 years. Excerpts from the interview:
What has been the broad strategy
for doing business in Africa?
In the past few years we have evolved a three-phased approach.
The first phase was settling down in South Africa, examining
the challenges, evaluating the businesses we could get into
and evolving the business model.
In the second phase we began operations, starting with the
motors business — first commercial vehicles, then passenger
vehicles, and finally bus body building. Now we are looking
at an assembly line. The cost of power in South Africa is
very low and, therefore, Tata Steel got interested in ferrochrome
smelting, which uses a huge amount of power. Here, the challenge
was to get environmental clearances, because it’s a
shore-based plant.
Tata Africa presented the Neotel opportunity to the Group.
VSNL showed an interest, and it fitted like a glove, as
VSNL had the international network in place. It took us
three years, but now Neotel is an operational project. The
third phase will start now, when we get into new projects
and expand existing ones. We are looking at hotels, we have
done some ground work for TCE Consulting Engineers and we
are talking to Tata Chemicals
for opportunities in South Africa and other countries.
Are there any new areas of business
that Tata Africa is exploring?
Yes, there is energy and mining, hydel and thermal power
generation. We are looking for acquisitions, but that is
probably a few years away. In the meanwhile, we are doing
a lot of research in mining with Tata Steel.
In every field, we bring in Group companies. We have received
tremendous help from two key people: Group Chairman Ratan
Tata and Tata International Chairman Syamal Gupta. You can
be strong here only if you have strong people guiding you.
By year-end, Tata Africa will have a firm footprint in
11 countries. Not even South African companies will have
such a diverse business profile.
Last year, Tata Africa gave scholarships
to 10 postgraduate students. Are there any other CSR initiatives
being taken up?
We will provide scholarships to students from several universities
and groom entrepreneurs; by imparting the requisite managerial
and other skills to equip a person to own and manage his
or her own small business. We want to formalise this training
with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). We also
send trainees from here to various Group companies in India.
What is your vision for the Tatas
in Africa?
I think that Tata Africa should become as strong as the
Group is in India, and stand out as a company that is widely
respected. In the next 10 years, Tata Africa and the Group
companies will establish and expand the Tatas on the map
of Africa. The South African government has already realised
that the Tatas are very different from other companies.
Tata brand building is now the most important task. We must
ensure that whatever we do stands the test of time.
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