MC EXCLUSIVE From Marico to mentorship: Harsh Mariwala on succession planning, India’s quick commerce wave and Ascent Foundation’s ambitions

Harsh Mariwala, Founder at ASCENT Foundation (Chairman at Marico and Kaya)

Founded by Marico Chairman Harsh Mariwala, the ASCENT Foundation - a non-profit peer network of over 1,200 entrepreneurs -  is now aiming for a bold expansion.

The foundation’s next milestone: growing its network to over 10,000 members and scaling beyond the few Indian metros where it currently operates. ASCENT has already played a key role in helping businesses like Kolkata-based Rollick Ice Creams and Mumbai’s SaaS firm Pureblu navigate challenges and achieve turnarounds.

Speaking to Moneycontrol on the sidelines of the 10th ASCENT Conclave, Harsh Mariwala, Founder of ASCENT Foundation, and Priyanjali Mariwala, its Lead Director, shared their vision for ASCENT’s next phase. They also discussed how Indian entrepreneurs are navigating the AI wave, evolving distribution models in FMCG, and preparing for leadership succession.

Edited excerpts:

You have set a new target to build a peer platform of over 10,000 entrepreneurs. Take us through the plans ahead. Are these going to be majorly family and legacy businesses who are going to be a part of it or is it going to be a mix of start-ups as well?

Mariwala: We have scaled up over a period of time to more than 1200 entrepreneurs. Going forward it could be any business, which needs some guidance. If we look at our current set of members, we have about 47% members from manufacturing, 53% from services, and 10% women entrepreneurs. I don't remember the exact percentage of family businesses out of that, but I take it to be about 25-30%.

Any entrepreneur who is willing to learn, listen to each other, and interact with others. That's how the peer learning platform takes place. There is limited impact I can have as an individual entrepreneur because an entrepreneur goes on facing various issues at various times of their journey.

So, if you are in a group of 8-10 entrepreneurs who are non-competing with you, then you can present your issue to them and they will give their views. It's like a mirror showing your blind spots. They meet every month, and it doesn't cost any money. All we expect an entrepreneur to do is have a business of a certain size.

You should be ambitious to grow that business. You should be open to learn and implement, and have 3-4 hours time.

Priyanjali: These 10-member groups are sacrosanct. It's not easily done. There's a lot of work that goes into how we structure those conversations and plan the groups ensuring non-competing founders.

That's the quality I want to maintain as the lead director as well. That’s really the crux of what we're proposing as a foundation. Because we're doing it as a foundation, it allows me to be flexible. I can move to what the entrepreneur needs. Like if there are questions on AI, I can instantly plan some huddles where they can get more information which is coming from a trusted source.

What’s the expansion plan?

Mariwala: Earlier this was mainly Mumbai-centric, now we have gone to Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru. Next step is to expand to other metros like Hyderabad and Kolkata and then go to Tier-I and Tier-2 towns. Because we see a lot of entrepreneurship activities in smaller towns.

Then it really doesn't cost any money for you to become an Ascent member. Only thing we need to have are those conditions which I talked about. And if anyone is interested, they should actually visit our website. You can access our website www.ascentfoundation.in, and you will get all the details.

Priyanjali: These meet ups of founders happen in-person and we already have membership base in 40 cities. Now, setting up chapters we are planning depending on the demand and requirement. Like we had to open an office in Chennai even before Delhi, that’s an unusual strategy in normal course.

How should these businesses today navigate the current AI boom? How are you assessing AI at Marico?

Mariwala: The key here is to identify an AI use case first. There should be a high degree of willingness and support at the top levels. Ideally by the MD and his team, who would get together a team of let’s say 15-20 people to ideate what the roadmap should be. They need to prioritise the finalised initiatives and break it into 2-3 roadmaps, and each project will be led by an assigned person.

AI can have a huge impact, and all organizations have to take it very, very seriously. Whether it is designing new products or whether it is supply chain or sales and marketing, AI is going to play a very, very important role. Apart from that day-to-day also, a lot of the jobs may get redundant because you can just go to AI.

At Marico, we have a robust digital roadmap. We go on reviewing it every year and then defining it.

What is the succession plan for Ascent Foundation?

Mariwala: So far, I started Ascent but Priyanjali, my daughter-in-law, she is managing it, she spends much, much more time than me. The succession plan is after me, she takes over.

It's simple. For whatever I have done in my life, whether it is Marico or Kaya or Mariwala Health Initiative, I have one person within the family to identify and they work on that. So, she is managing this and another small business, AquaCentric.

My son (Rishabh Mariwala) is managing Marico and Kaya. My daughter (Rajvi Mariwala) is managing Mariwala Health Initiative. So, each one is heading.

Now, my role is just more to ensure that they succeed.

Marico is known to handle succession planning very well with a professional management team and the promoters at the helm and on the board. What’s your take on the succession planning as we are seeing at other conglomerates in India such as the Tata Group, Wipro?

Mariwala: Tata is one story. Leaving that aside, I think Indian businessmen, Indian promoters -- even of large companies -- are very hierarchical in their thinking.

They really want to have their children succeed them. I think I broke that kind of an expectation when I appointed a professional CEO.

As businesses become more competitive, you will have to select the individuals who are best suited to run the company. I think the key question to ask is whether the business comes first or the family comes first. For me, it’s the company.

…And what do you think of the corporate structures? For instance, between Azim Premji Foundation and Wipro, there’s a trust/ foundation structure which gets dividends to run the philanthropy, and maintains distance from Wipro’s daily operations. In the case of Tata Group, Tata Trust is a shareholder in Tata Sons. Should say a company like Tata Sons get listed? What works better?

Mariwala: In our case, the promoter shares are not held by any charitable trust. Or if it is held, it is very little. So, it is mainly held by other discretionary trust, which is owned by the family.

And then from the dividend income, once the family earns, we give money to the charity. So, to the Mariwala Health Initiative or in a way, Ascent also is my way of doing something for the society. It is coming from our discretionary trust, which is not a charitable trust.

On the tech businesses side like IT companies we are already seeing a direct impact of AI on jobs. Will we see a similar trend in the FMCG industry? How are job roles evolving there?

Mariwala: Certainly, it will have an impact. Just now, I do not think it is because people are still playing around with AI and what they can do. It is too early. But it is a matter of time, AI will impact jobs.

Especially routine jobs, which can be done by AI. You do not need a person to do the job.

How is the distribution channel evolving for Marico with the sudden popularity of quick commerce? What do you think of this trend?

Mariwala: I think it will increase because in just about a few years of quick commerce now, we are seeing that Indian customers are getting delighted. My granddaughter goes after quick commerce and she knows how to order all that. So, it is there among the young children as well. She is just 11 years.

Of course, it will change the distribution for FMCG depending on what you are selling, but on average for most FMCG companies I see 4-5% of sales come through quick commerce. It may go up to 8-10%.