During a morning run in March, Nisaba Godrej thought about forming a “gutsy girls’ sport league” on the Juhu beach as she couldn’t find any women’s team playing on the sands. She also remembers how her father Adi Godrej encourages a love for adventure and outdoors.
Nisaba has been a ‘gutsy girl’ in business too. The second of Adi Godrej’s three children joined GCPL in 2007 and initiated Project Leapfrog to accelerate the India business. GCPL did a string of acquisitions in Indonesia, Latin America and Africa. The ‘3x3 strategy’ to penetrate deeper into Asia, Africa and South America with three segments, personal wash, hair care and insecticides, also yielded good results. She has grown GCPL’s consolidated revenue from ₹2,980 crore to ₹12,366 crore in last 10 years. Net profit jumped from ₹604 crore to ₹1,783 crore. The company struggled in Africa in 2018-20. Covid-19 lockdowns also affected the business. But Nisaba managed to lead a rebound. Now, margins are improving in most geographies, including Africa. She also had to take responsibility of managing director and CEO briefly following the exit of Vivek Gambhir. — Nevin John