Priyata Raghavan
The author has firmly believed that “Women are largely loyal, committed and resilient in business”. They achieve success in their endeavors despite being multi-taskers. We all know being a home maker is a gigantic task; looking after household chores, managing children, their education, their activities, arranging wardrobes for self and family. After all this, running one of the largest packaging companies in the country is nothing short of a miracle! Priyata Raghavan, is one such woman who is like a role model for young aspiring women leaders riding success with her hard work. She is the younger daughter of Vijay Raghavan, the founder of Sai Packaging Company and heads the overall operations of the company as deputy CEO.
Vijay Raghavan came from a modest
background having witnessed financial heights and lows in his childhood.
Despite difficulties he completed his education through college and then went
on to achieve an MBA. Middle aged, in his late 40s, in 1993 he decided to set
up his maiden venture Sai Security Printers with meagre capital that he could
arrange. With sheer hard work he established his credibility and adopted good
business practices and ethical values that became the way forward for the
business and for his family to follow. His wife was a big support, with a
masters in English literature she pursued job as a teacher. In the beginning of
a new millennium, the business felt the need of more family members and at this
time she quit her job to join as administrator, a designation she has held for
the past 20 years.
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Vijay Raghavan carried on his security printing business, printing
lottery tickets for various state Governments. In 1996 they invested in an
imported, one of the early 13-inch 12 color narrow web flexo press for printing
scratch coupons. Due to a sudden ban on lottery by the government, they were
left evaluating what to do next. Vijay Raghavan initiated his journey into
packaging by setting up Sai Packaging Company and putting the swanky new press
to use instead, for Labels, Beverages and liquor. That was how they started
working in Labels.
Vijay Raghavan is blessed with
two daughters and being a proponent of women empowerment, encouraged his
daughters to achieve the best in education. His elder daughter is a maths
graduate from South Campus Delhi, and currently heads the Tutor Quality
Department at CueLearn India, an e-learning startup focused on math education
globally. She is Carnegie Mellon
University Dean's Scholar with a master’s in information systems management.
His younger daughter Priyata who now heads the North India operations of Sai
Packaging as deputy CEO since 2005, attended Holy Child School New Delhi and
Sri Venkateswara College in South Campus, New DELHI. She did her MBA from IIM
Lucknow and has been a gold medalist through all these institutions. She
specialized in Marketing and Finance.
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Priyata joined ITC Limited in 2003
as a Management Trainee in Sales and Marketing. She considers her time at ITC
crucial for her business future, working on brands like Ashirwaad and Sunfeast
that became household names. She gained insights into sales and distribution
channels, travelling extensively across the country. She joined Sai Packaging right after spending a few years at ITC
Limited. This was at a time when the business was going through a
transformation from the lottery business into a world of labels and packaging.
It was an important trajectory dependent on succession. She has spent over 20
years at the helm of SAI, wearing many hats like heading Sales, Operations,
Finance etc. As with every family-run enterprise, her duties/task far outnumber
any designation. After initially starting out in finance, then sales and
operations, she worked her way to leading Profit Centers for the overall business
as well as heading Business Development, Finance and Corporate Affairs for the
Company.
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Reminiscing her early days at
SAI, she says, “Memories of selling packaging those days, are very memorable,
albeit for very different reasons. I was handed a few of the challenging
customers to prove my mettle. I cannot name them here of course, but I can say
that my learnings from selling to these difficult customers was far higher than
the business earnings from them. I still carry those early lessons with me!”.
As for the challenges she faced as a woman, she goes on to add, “Printing as
such, especially the convertor business has few women and there is always
resistance both within and without for a woman on the shop floor and as a
leader. I overcame initial resistance with hard work, resilience, passion and
delivery to be trusted by all stakeholders as an inclusive leader. “Priyata
firmly believes that there are advantages of being a female leader. Women bring
in the innate ability to multitask and establish an emotional connect. Their
higher social quotient and emotional quotient helps build tangible and solid
relationships amongst all levels of the team and stakeholders. This ability
helps the teams to go above and beyond, and win trust with suppliers, customers
and investors. She asserts that she has always tried to look at the end consumer
requirements so as to understand the packaging needs of brands and translate
that back to her teams within the company. This helped her in winning business.
Sai, until she joined, was a men-only organisation 20 years ago, but contrary
to that, it now employs women at various positions in the company. Sai has
evolved to recognise the merit and talent in women.
Priyata's father, Vijay
Raghavan, inspired her with his business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit. He
mentored her throughout her career, alongside other professionals in both
family and business, which contributed to her growth. She avidly reads
biographies and management books to gather insights and experiences. She has, over the years, been the
recipient of many awards.
· Business leader of the Year 2023, Women in Print by
Printweek
· Tycoons of Faridabad by the Jagran Group in 2019
· Appreciation Award for Women Empowerment by FICCI 2019
· Young Entrepreneur Recognition by DLF Industries 2020
Despite her entrepreneurial
responsibilities, she has successfully raised two children. Advait, her
13-year-old son excels in football, academics, and music. Zoya, her 10-year-old
daughter is an outstanding student and a dedicated Kathak dancer, performing
across India and winning numerous awards.
Vijay Raghavan continues to guide
and mentor Sai Packaging as Chairman. Arvind Sekhar -his elder son in law,
husband of Priyata’s elder sister, is the CEO of the company looking after National
Customers & Corporate Account Relationships, Strategic R&D Initiatives,
and Investor Relationships. Arvind is master’s in chemical engineering, and has
worked with International Papers and Ariba, an American software and information technology services
company located in Palo Alto, California now acquired by German software maker SAP.
He was in the US for 13 years, before he came back to India to join the company.
Sai packaging is multilocation company serving FMCG brands needing a pan-India vender
presence. Sai is the preferred partner for them with production facilities in
Faridabad NCR and Bengaluru in the south of India. Their product range includes
Labels, Cartons, Leaflets, Inserts and Security printing instruments.
With 14 offset
and flexo production lines they work out of the shop floor area admeasuring 270,000
square feet employing a 700 plus workforce at two locations. They invested in digital
printing capabilities some years back and found digital solutions extremely
useful in giving options with speed to the world of packaging. Priyata believes
that hybrid technologies that toggle both conventional and digital technologies,
have great scope for growth, in the years to come, however still, the industry
needs to overcome the pricing challenge for digital.
Finally, regarding her vision for
future, she says, “We want to consolidate that position to grow much faster in
the years to come. We want to be known for our initiatives in Creativity,
Trust, and Sustainability across the board.
Written by Harveer Sahni, Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited,
New Delhi March 2025
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