its in the family

yesterday, due to some pressing need i happened to visit the office library. There, i chanced upon a copy of business today. The cover story of the latest issue has a profile of Noel Naval Tata, the half brother of Ratan N Tata. Noel has been running the group's retail arm Trent Ltd for over a decade now and yet a few have heard much about him in the media. Everytime i visit a Westside outlet, i am sure to find a surprise. I have taken many of my relatives/friends to westside outlets and they all have been impressed by it. More than the flashy big outlets, westside's subtle ambience has captured senses of many. In the last deacade, apart from westside we have seen Trent foray into books and music by acquiring a stake in landmark, partenring with Tesco for Star India Bazaar ( more importantly going slow on it after the retail bust during sub prime crisis where many retail biggies bit the dust), launching electronic retail chain of croma. One point to note here Ladies n Gentlemen is, Trent is 14th in terms of market cap in the tata group ( my company is the first ) . Trent is also not supposed to explicitly use the omnipresent TATA logo as they have to still reach a few goals as per the in-house business excellence model of the group to be able to use it. Until then all it can do is to just display "A TATA Enterprise" in its brands.The man has led the company ably as his elder bro did Nelco more than 2 decades ago. Yet the man hasnt had a stint in Tata Steel or Tata motors , the flagship companies of the group. Noel is the likely successor to the septuagenarian chairman who is set to retire soon and may become chairman emeritus like his mentor JRD. Iam awestruck by the steady growth of Trent that has lived up to the Tata values. I say this not just because I am a Tata employee. I hope the group gets to greater heights once Noel takes over the mantle. With a team of CEOs in their 40s Noel whos in his 50s will have a brighter chance for taking the group to new heights.