Fortune India 40 Under 40: Sanjiv Mehta's blueprint for entrepreneurs—put people first, lead with purpose, adapt with speed

Sanjiv Mehta, executive chairman, L Catterton India, and former MD & CEO of FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever , during a conversation on 'building sustainable businesses' at Fortune India's 40 Under 40 event in Mumbai today, shared key insights and lessons on building multibillion-dollar companies. He also touched upon key areas of navigating crises with opportunity, why entreprenurs should put people first, his leadership mantra and his advice on building timelines for companies.

Mehta, who had a three-decade-long career with FMCG behemoth Hindustan Unilever, talked about navigating crises into opportunity, saying startups should hunt for opportunities in adversity, and they will surely gain far more than they would otherwise. "If you look at the word ‘crisis’ in the Chinese language, it is made out of two characters—danger and opportunity. Whenever the times were tough, we gained huge amounts of market share."

Speaking about his experiences in Egypt during the Arab Spring during the early 2010s, he said when even the cops had left the barracks, his company did a counterintuitive thing. "We doubled down on advertising because the only thing people were doing was watching television. When others shrank the distribution, we expanded it. Hunt for opportunities in adversity."

Mehta says he always believed in putting people first, because when the tide is against you, they will be the first ones to protect your business. "The most important fundamental principle I have believed in is this: look after your people, and people will look after your business. In the Middle East, when banks were shut, we collected money from wholesalers and handed it to our distributor salespeople. We stocked grains in our Cairo factory and told our workers to collect food whenever they ran out. Without prompting, they protected our factories from being burnt."

Mehta led Hindustan Unilever as CEO and Managing Director for around 10 years till June 2023. Sharing key tips for startups on leadership, Mehta stressed on treating employees as family. "If you have the right intent and purpose, you’ll make it come alive. There is an unwritten covenant between employees and employers: if you look after them, they will pay you back. It’s not about contracts, it’s about basic humanity."

Every entrepreneur faces crises in their business because that's what makes them true leaders, and Mehta perfectly embodies that. Speaking about the crisis he faced during his long career as a business leader, Mehta said in fact, it was pre-Unilever, when he was part of the Bhopal gas tragedy crisis team at the age of 24. "That was perhaps the world’s biggest industrial disaster. We had CBI investigations, US and Indian court litigation, thousands of victims to aid, and operations to shut down. I believe a boy became a man in Bhopal. Since then, throw me into the deep end and I will never get daunted by a crisis."

Mehta also shared insights on building timeless companies, saying one has to be true to their roots and purpose but also be cognizant of the changing context. "You may not veer away from the core of the brand, but the way you communicate and present it must resonate with the next generation of consumers. If it doesn’t, you’ll lose your sheen."