Being an exemplary businesswoman is no easy feat, it requires the confidence to own who you are, why you do what you do, and how effectively you use your vision to create a positive impact on the world. Needless to say, a successful woman is self-assured in her femininity while still willing to learn and develop which undoubtedly leads to fruitful outcomes. This fundamental urge to always keep learning and evolving is what matters the most. In every aspect of her life, a woman can find harmony and perspective. In the modern age, business-leading women need to pick up the pace from the get-go and mark their spot in the ever-changing and dynamic nature of the 21st century.
Mrs. Supriya Badve, the Executive Director of Badve Engineering Ltd observed that the people follow the leaders who are committed, go-getters, and demonstrative. In life, it is especially important to learn to do things the way it works for you but particularly for women who bear a lot of the burden of business and home responsibilities. Though it may not necessarily be a metric in employee evaluations, integrity is essential for the individual and the organization. It’s especially vital for top-level executives who are charting the organization’s course and making countless significant decisions.
Supriya started her journey with LIC India in 1991 and continued for seven years. She was an exemplary student at school, a career seeker and an employee, a homemaker, and a mother of two young adults. Apart from her PG in M.Sc. (Physics and Digital Electronics), she was meritorious in departmental exams. In 1990, the recession period marked its peak.
At that time, she wished to be a Junior Scientist at BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre). But before that, an opportunistic event occurred which she productively utilized- to work with LIC struck her door, and looking at post-marital challenges, she preferred LIC and continued working with them for a few years.
1994 marked the year of her marriage with Mr. Shrikant Badve, then the proprietor of Shreeyash Enterprises. Later, under his leadership & vision the foundation was laid for Badve Engineering Group. For about four years, Mrs. Supriya was dedicated to nurture her children and concurrently started to work with Shreeyash Enterprises.
It’s worth praising that she enjoyed her motherhood and fulfilled her household responsibilities commendably. In 1998, she joined Badve Unit (Aurangabad) where she looked after the accounts, which was followed by another glorious event in 2002. She joined the Badve Engineering Ltd. as a Director and started looking after the Polymer Unit at Aurangabad (Maharashtra) from its inception. So, in a true sense, the achievements of multi-faceted Mrs. Supriya Badve never ceased.
It is a noteworthy fact that for the last 20 years, Badve Engineering Ltd. has made a rapid expansion to 35 units across pan India.
Dreaming Big
Supriya’s ambition to work in the engineering field, urge to excel and dreaming big wakes her up. One of the most unexpected incidents happened in her scholarly life. She lost her admission to engineering with just two marks which in turn, made a seemingly huge impact on her life. At that time, she set her goal and decided that one day, she would make a career in the engineering industry and make her parents proud with people acknowledging her achievement. With such grit, talent, and determination, she has become the iconic businesswoman of the modern age.
To Supriya’s experience, the right people at the right place, arranging finances for the exponential growth and expansion of the company, standardization of the system for geo-diversified locations were some of the primary challenges she faced while running the business. Establishing Tier-II Vendor base, good SCM processes HR, IR practices, SAP implementations were some other hurdles and challenges while working in the capacity of the Executive Director.
Other challenges were related to both technical and administrative capabilities, lack of good skill sets required for a particular position, upward and downward communications, and other soft skills required in day-to-day work, but in a true sense, all of this was overcome by the shrewd sense and analytical skills that the person in talk had gathered over all her years as an emerging professional.
Positions held by Mrs. Supriya Badve
- Executive Director of the Badve Group
- Chairperson of TPM Steering Committee
- Founder & CEO of Xara Flowers
- Founder & CEO of SportsIndi
- Executive member of AICTE Panel (Central Sr. Level Experts for Ministry of Education Innovation Cell, Govt. of India)
- Member of IACC (Indo American Chambers of Commerce)
- An Executive Member of MCCIA (Women Entrepreneurs Committee)
- Charter President of Rotary E-Club of Pune Diamond (the only performing e-club in Dist.3131)
- Trustee of ‘Taalyogi Aashram’ by Pandit Suresh Talwalkar devoted to Music education.
- President of Editorial Committee of Brahmakesari ·
- VP of Shantidoot Pariwar.
- Director of Tanishka Nagari Sahakari Patsanstha·
- Panel member of SAP India.
- Member of Rotary Vaccination Committee.
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS:
- Badve Engineering Ltd. is honored by JIPM TPM International Award in Japan on 23rd March 2017, March 2020 for its excellent performance in TPM activities.
- In March 2018 Badve Engineering Ltd received prestige’s JIPM (Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance) Awards in Kyoto, Japan under the guidance of Mrs. Supriya Badve.
- Best Woman Industrialist Award (at the hands of Arundhati Bhattacharya, Ex-Chairman of SBI) Rotary International Award for the Best President ‟Best Women Entrepreneur Award (by Dnyaneshwar Mule Foundation & Bharat Nirman Foundation)
- “Muktai Award‟ by Yadnyayalk Ashram
- “Gold Performance Award‟ by Frost & Sullivan (India)
- Manufacturing Excellence Awards in 2018 Mumbai
- “Gold Certificate of Merit” by Frost N Sullivan, India
- Manufacturing Excellence Award in 2019 Mumbai
- Presentation of Badve Engineering TPM journey at Gurgaon, Delhi, organized by JIPM Japan.
- A speaker at the National TPM Conference, arranged by CII at Chennai, Bangalore.
- Chief Guest at Pune for various awards functions organized by CII ACMA (Automotive Components Manufacturing Association)
- Being a Hindustani Music lover and respecting Panditji‟s contribution to Hindustani music, I contributed to arranging a memorable event tribute to the Legend “Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Khayal Yadnya”, recently held at Pune
Dynamics of Badve Group
OPERATIONS, MISSION, VISION, AND CORE VALUES
OPERATIONS:
- Badve group of Industries specializes in Automotive systems and Home appliances manufacturing with remarkable expertise in safety-critical parts like Chassis, Suspension, Exhaust Systems, Mirror, and several other products for two-wheeler and commercial vehicle segments.
- They are a 100% professionally run family-owned business with an astounding experience of 32 years and an admirably good work ethic with a strong workforce of more than 3500 employees and amassing over 15000 associates. (Blue-collar employees)
- Pan India manufacturing presence with 30 plants across the country and associated with some of the major OEM’s (Bajaj, Hero, Honda, Mahindra, JLR, Volvo, Royal Enfield, Tata Motors to mention a few) in the 2W, 4W space with an ever-expanding global footprint.
- Capabilities in stamping (450+ press machines), Welding (400 + robots with numerous SPMs), 200+ injection molding machines along with the “best in class” paint capabilities to ensure complete OEM satisfaction.
- Achieved sales growth at 17% CAGR over the past four years with a robust sales pipeline driving future growth.
- Design and development strengths are in-house with the remarkable development of over 1000 tools.
MISSION: To be a leading global organization with paramount influence over the supply of world-class products, thereby meeting customer schedules of development, validation, and supply of every product on order, through relentless and continuous improvements while partnering with all stakeholders.
VISION: To globally offer engineering products through the incorporation of the inexorable march of new technology, thus becoming a trusted brand through customer delight.
CORE VALUES: ‘Excellence’, ‘Innovation’, ‘Team’, and ‘Now’.
The current pandemic affected businesses worldwide immensely and Supriya, deterministic and optimistic as usual took necessary steps to safeguard her employees while catering to her clients. It was a real challenge for her to work in the pandemic. The business was affected for the first two quarters, but reassuringly and slowly picked up.
Few OEM started operations early in May. Safety, hygiene, and health of employees were some of the more bounteous challenges. She appealed to the employees to resume the work with all safety norms and provided them with requisite support and awareness.
Taking matters into her own hands, she ensured that the business smoothly went back to its normal state, ensuring maximum profits whilst fully taking into consideration the socioeconomic factors that came into play.
Transportation was doubled for observing social distancing norms. Supriya and her team at Badve Group designed their disinfection channels, sanitizing all buses, cafeterias, offices, factory areas at particular frequencies. Above all, she covered all her employees/staff under the COVID19 policy. In the lockdown period when work from home was then and now in full swing, the Badve team reached out to all their 3800 employees via phone, WhatsApp, and e-mail communication.
Thanks to their endless efforts, the Badve team insured their employability rather than recruiting a few people. Quality HR practices were observed rigorously in this period too. Also, virtual get-togethers were arranged to tackle the new norms.
There are many creative ways Supriya employed to make the work environment of Badve Group vibrant. Good corporate culture, work ethic, and professionalism were observed in the group. It is a known fact that Strategy and Design matter the most in the group. Annual Business Meet, Synergy meets, reviews, employing engagement, CSR activities, intragroup Kaizen competitions were some major ways to make the Badve Group vibrant and instill energy in the employees. This was an amazing incentive that resulted in sky-high productivity.
Badve Group has a geo-diversified presence across India and hence different cultures and traditions are being celebrated. Truly Badve Engineering Group is a unity in diversity. All different cultures are being threaded and untied under the Badve Engineering Group.
The team of the Badve group took the initiative to celebrate all festivals and family get-togethers to enrich the heritage and vivid culture of India. To encourage women employees, the company celebrates Women’s Day and traditional days. It offers a variety of free training to women, like cooking, self-defence, personality development, and other competitions. Safety week is given the most priority, as it should be. Safety slogans, safety posters, and safety rallies for public awareness are some noteworthy action plans. Primary health center facility is also being provided at various locations.
A recent initiative, ‘Badve Group Musical Night’ is the team’s charismatic and unique activity. It identifies good singing talents. It is well responded to by the employees.
As of today, Badve Group has 35 factories across India and has certainly influenced business worldwide. Also, it has left a few footprints on the global map. In the coming years, Badve Engineering Group hopes to have a global presence for the by-overseas expansion to compete for international standards. “I want to be amongst the top industry leaders, establishing a national and international presence soon,” concludes Supriya. She observes that her personal growth goes along with her company’s expansion, beyond simple profit numbers. As Indra Nyooi says, “Performance with Purpose,” matters most to me.
Other Endeavors are:-
Xara Flowers:
It’s always been a passion for me. After getting trained in Floriculture from NIPHT’s HTC, I started ‘Xara Flowers’ at the Floriculture Park, Talegaon MIDC. I also had the opportunity to visit Japan Floriculture and studied the international market of flowers. Also,
- At Xara, we provide free training to women farmworkers. (Harvesting, de-leafing, grading, sorting & bunching of flowers)
- With a free accommodation facility for farmworkers, (60% women workers) we provided substantially good employment to them.
- One can see the World-class Roses of Xara in the international market of Japan.
Sportsindi:
I started Sportsindi, the Online Sports Hub with a glorious aim to connect people through sports. Development of SPORTS ECOSYSTEM, hunting emerging sports talents as well as supporting them, vocational training are the focused activities. ‘SPORTSINDI’ is dedicated to the upliftment of Sports & Sportspersons.
According to Supriya Badve, marked by her practical hard-headed intelligence, the essentials of being an inspiring business leader or business professional are something that not only shapes your career but also elevates you in this ever-progressing world. She narrates that through years of experience as a professional, I observed that the people follow the leaders who are committed, go-getters.
Demonstrative leadership inspires people a lot. Moreover, leaders with good skill sets like effective communication, ability to delegate, accountability, loyalty, integrity, strategy and vision, time management are well-accepted leadership traits. With all these prerequisites, empowering people and understanding the VUCA world to deliver targeted results, makes an individual an exemplary business leader and a shrewd professional.
Some enlightening messages that she would like to share with the young generation of entrepreneurs who are looking to step foot in a leadership role in their respective businesses are:-
- a) Success is not a tossed coin; you can’t earn wins instantly. One must play the game consistently.
- b) Entrepreneurship is a series of events, good & bad, lows & highs. It requires a lot of patience and analytical thinking, sometimes to bear the losses and to continue the journey overlooking all odds.
Quoting an important sermon from the holy book Bhagavat Geeta, the young generation should understand – Be experimental, be disciplined, be innovative, be creative, and take efforts to understand the ins and outs of Finance and Economy. Financial knowledge is most important for establishing and growing the business.
Speaking about innovation, Supriya Badve has a groundbreaking idea and philosophy. To me, ‘Innovation is Growth…moving forward to a larger picture and achieving bigger goals.’ In Badve Group, we follow TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) as a QMS (Quality Management System). For Badve Engineering Group TPM is a way of life.“We will continue our directional good work with innovations, transparency, and dedication to excellence and speed, this is our unquenchable thirst.”
Kaizen means the improvement and it is the basic element of the TPM. A total shift in the world view is undeniable and the modern generation has to upskill to compete with the thriving global standards. With continuous series of the improvement, innovation automatically gets addressed.
For our best efforts to TPM, our three units are located at Aurangabad viz. The plastic unit, the Fabrication unit has received the highest International Awards from the JIPM (Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance) for our TPM journey.
Looking at the scarcity/ shortage of oil across the Globe and sky rising prices of Petrol and Diesel worldwide innovation has started in Electrical Vehicles. Auto industries will be going for a change from their traditional fuel-oriented technology to eco-friendly electrical production. This is a great opportunity for innovators.
Few challenges may be charging stations for batteries or high-end infrastructure for EVs. But with incrementally good vision of the Government/s in coming years, infrastructure (including roads & transports) may grow abundantly. EVs may transform the auto industry at large, innovations will embark upon transformation. Designing has become a major part of selection criteria from end customers/ market and the creation of good designing is the first step of innovation.
BS6 has already addressed all issues of pollution and the environment. With the launch of new initiatives of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by the government paralleled by China’s challenges of higher labor charges, many auto industries across the globe will prefer India as their destination. This will attract auto businesses across the world in 2,3 and 4-wheeler segments.
The bigger advantage in India is 45 percent youth community and huge market, which is another nice-to-have. India is going to become an Auto hub provided innovations, skill enhancements, R&D; good infrastructure will undoubtedly be major focused areas.
In terms of future growth, Mrs. Supriya Badve has remarkable plans not only for herself but also for her company.
