His father passed away when V. N. Dalmia of Dalmia Continental was barely 24. From then on, he’s pretty much been on his own, dabbling in almost everything from tourism, biscuits, cement and finally olive oil, in which he built his empire. But more than anything else, Dalmia’s grateful for the missteps on the way and for his rivals. It’s these challenges that have taught him several lessons and made him determined to grow. He wants to learn a new trick of trade daily—otherwise he might as well pack up and retire, he stresses.

My lessons in entrepreneurship began early with my father, the late Ramkrishna Dalmia. From being a small-time stock market speculator he went on to build Dalmianagar—the largest industrial complex in Bihar—from scratch. He introduced me to entrepreneurship, while my brother, Gun Nidhi, proved to be the patient guru after I lost my father. My management degree at the Darden School of Business helped too.

Sometimes people you meet lead you to your calling. As did my classmate, Fiona Roche, who introduced me to olive oil. One crusty piece of bread dipped in olive oil was all I needed to be a convert for life. I still knew nothing about it. But knew it would strike a chord in a country where heart diseases were rising sharply.

Before I could jump in, I had to restructure Dalmia Continental. After the project feasibility study and getting the paperwork done, when it came to deciding on a brand name, I went for Leonardo. It was Roche’s Italian boyfriend’s name. Because Leonardo was really my baby, it’s taught me the most about business—that a CEO must learn to drive his own enterprise. Though you can’t be everywhere at the same time, some bitter experiences have taught me to be alert, choose people judiciously and institute checks and balances in the system. Gut and feel is fine. But there’s no other way to get to the pulse of the business apart from MIS reports and other processes.

Though you can’t be everywhere at the same time, some bitter experiences have taught me to be alert, choose people judiciously and institute checks and balances in the system."—V. N. Dalmia, Dalmia Continental

The purpose of business is to make a profit. But at one time I almost forgot that. I was foolishly arrogant about my business. I wanted Leonardo to be the best olive oil company, not an importer of food products. That niche focus gave us snob appeal, I believed. But I had to learn quickly that olive oil was going to take time to gain acceptance. We had no other product to sell so our costs remained uncovered. I worked to launch canola oils, table olives, pasta and non-alcoholic beers in quick succession to add to our offerings. I extended the Leonardo brand to synergistic products—it’s a strategy that we replicate for all our brands.

More than anything else, a lesson that I value is that to be successful, you have to sell a product which adds value to the lives of consumers. Without that raison d’être, it’s difficult to do well. Ensure that the product is of the best quality and is rightly packaged. We cemented our leadership position in olive oils and made our brand identity by being conscious of this. Even now, when I see somebody ask for a bottle of Leonardo at a grocery store, everything in my journey seems worth the while.