This is true to the last word
in the case of Lion C.Rajagopalan, Founder cum Chairman of Jayapriya Group of
Companies. It was three decades ago while working as a clerk in Neyveli Lignite
Corporation (NLC) had the aspirations of becoming a successful businessman.
His dream ha became real and has in excess of 1000 direct staff, 4000 agents
and 50 branches across the state which is no mean achievement. The turnover
by chit auction is in the verge of 1500 crores by virtue of which Jayapriya is
reckoned as one of the leading chit fund companies in India.
On asking him as to how he
started his company and what were the ideas behind the whole business he
retorts, “While I was working in NLC, I was vested with the mantle of running
my friend's furniture agency in my spare time and that increased the sales
through customer-centric approach and this, in turn, yielded a sizeable profit to
the company. How, by virtue of having earned a profit for his friend was given
a sizable portion for the services he had rendered and this triggered his
passion for business. When his friend gave him an option to take over the agency he readily accepted the offer with both hands thereby becoming a full
time businessman.
In a small way he was all set
to sell furniture and home appliances on an installment basis and subsequently
set the business in motion. It was a colossal success. The prospective
customers were mostly NLC employees. This way of buying household articles did
not pinch the pocket of the buyers and they found a scheme to be pretty easy to
pay and intern buy the household articles most essentials. This motivated into starting cycle spare
shop. Which also added to his success.
A masterstroke and a turning
point
Nothing succeeds like success
and it is infectious! It was at Thiruthuraipoondi in Tanjore district that he
got the vision for the future mission. His brother was a teacher there and he
used to frequent his place to meet him. It was here that he befriended his
brother’s friends who were successfully running a chit Fund Company there. It
was they who gave him the necessary inputs about the chit business and its
success slogans. This triggered the curiosity in him on this business and
thereby acted with dexterity in the direction to achieve success in this
business. Thus was created Jayapriya Chit Funds. It was started as a
partnership company but at a later date, the partners were constrained to leave
as they had their own business interests and had to take care of it. Despite
the partners leaving the company, he singles handly dedicated himself to the
growth of the business with full vigor and enthusiasm and thus the company was
made a private limited one.
It was a marathon struggle in
the early stages and collecting members for the chit group was and arduous task
to enroll customers, the basis of the business. When quizzed about the
struggles he faced at the time of the business’s infancy he had this to say
“Each day he used to fix a personal target which was getting at least one
customer before noon, but it turned out that even on one whole day the toughest
errand was to get one customer. People needed to be goaded but with kind words
and possible promises and not improbable ones to invest in a chit scheme and
that it is a profitable way of saving their hard-earned money which would be
useful to them on a rainy day. He convinced the people to the extent of joining
the chit and that his hard work started yielding desirable results”. This saw a
dramatic extension of the chit groups, increase of the chit denomination. The
flagship company Jayapriya Chit Funds of the Jayapriya Group got a firm and
unshakable footing to cruise steadily in the business large as the largest
ocean.
Integrity and honesty proved
What is the formula for his
success? He immediately retorts that unflinching hard work, total dedication,
honesty and integrity is the formula he used to epitomize success. “Honesty and
integrity play a crucial role in selling the product which itself is money.
People are looking forward to an institution with conviction and integrity to
invest their hard-earned money. This is what prompted us time and again to be
honest and forthright in our business at whatever cost it maybe”
There arose a situation which
would test his integrity. In the mid0nineties there was a financial crisis of a
large magnitude in Tamilnadu. A heap of finance and chit companies downed their
shutters all of a sudden and the investors were left high and dry as they were
not repaid their investments even on the maturity of their deposits. Having been
promised high rate of interest for their deposits which is impractical in
practice and hence could not repay the deposited amount. The spate of closures
of these companies which acted without conviction affected even those chit and
finance companies which were working to the practical norms which could
facilitate a smooth transactions between the company and the investor. This act
of the companies which closed on the face of the depositors robbing them of their
hard earned money rose a suspicion in the minds of the depositors and they
decided to fore-close their deposits without waiting for the date of maturity.
This came as a bolt from the blue for finance companies adhering to conviction and
integrity and Jayapriya was a exception to this. But he at Jayapriya proved its
honesty despite being in dire straits and repaid the depositors to the last
paisa. This was a blessing in disguise and a windfall to enhance the trust,
people had in the company gave the people a reliable institution to invest
their precious money.
Inducting fresh mind to lead
To survive the onslaught of
the market and the changing trends, any organization is in need of fresh and young
blood thirsting for success. He at Jayapriya gave a thought for the necessity
to induct an able and a fresh mind to head the company and take it forward in
its journey towards success. His son Jayasankar armed with a master’s degree
in business, the administration was given the mantle of the Managing Director. His elevation
to the highly regarded post was not got in a day, He had to come through the
cadres starting off as a collection clerk and climbing several steps en-route to
climbing the pinnacle of the corporate ladder. Jayasankar was a man with a mission
and vision and always felt the need to diversify the business. This thought
process paved way for the genesis of a spate of group companies. Jayapriya with
an eagle-eyed vision spread its wings in various other fields’ viz. property
development, education, insurance, money transfer, retail petroleum outlets,
entertainment, media, etc.,
He envisioned several avenues
for savings, People had a variety of choices to select which spanned from chit
funds, benefit funds, deposit schemes, monthly savings, daily savings, etc., and
this apart they had the option of investing in plots, apartments, individual
houses. This scheme caters to the various economic sections of the society
which encompasses the roadside vendors to company’s CEOs to choose schemes
tailor-made for them.
Caring hand
The company’s assets,
investments apart are the staff and agents. They enjoy a personal rapport with
the Chairman and the Managing Director and share a cherished bond with them prompting
the Chairman to state time and again that, “I am for them and they are for me
and that they are the family members of Jayapriya Group”. Staff members have
access to all the benefits as per the norms at by the Government and this
apart, incentives, motivational gifts and foreign tours for achieving the nominal
target is also given to boost the efficiency and dedication levels of the
staff. Agents also form a part of the schemes enlisted for the staff viz. gifts
and foreign tours. With a mind for charity the group has established a corpus
fund by opening a charitable trust to help the less fortunate students in their
educational pursuits and help them see the light of the day and become responsible
citizens of tomorrow. This is a very noble exertion on the part of Jayapriya
and laudable at all times. In addition to this eye camps and blood donation
camps are organized on a regular basis. On every given year lakhs of rupees are
being spent to ensure the betterment of less fortunate people and help them
join the mainstream of life.
