Hyderabad: As condolences pour in for the demise of Kanyakumari MP H Vasanthakumar, who succumbed to COVID19 on Friday, he leaves a legacy behind as an entrepreneur. His story is an impressive tale of rags to riches.
Vasanthakumar, born to Harikrishna and Thangammai, on April 14, 1950, at Agastheeswaram in Kanyakumari, did his schooling in a panchayat school. He did his undergraduate in Tamil literature from Vivekananda College and successfully completed his masters from Madurai Kamaraj University.
In the early 70s, Vasanthakumar came to Chennai to assist his elder brother Kumari Ananthan, a veteran Congress leader, to help with electioneering. The latter introduced him to VG Panneerdas’ firm where he was recruited for a monthly pay of Rs 70 after the election work got over.
His role involved the collection of the instalments from the customers across the City for the chits/products. As his hard work got noticed by the management, he went up the ladder and landed himself as a branch manager with a salary of Rs 300 per month.
He was offered a much bigger role when the company was expanding and was asked to relocate to Mumbai.
Vasanthakumar who was looking to make his mark decided against it with the intention to make his own business. His strength was in the sales sector but he did not have any working capital minus the friendly customers whom he got acquainted during his term in VGP.
One of them offered him a commercial space in South Usman Road for a few thousand. The well-wisher also gave Vasanthakumar time of six months to pay.
Thus, the empire of Vasanth & Co came into existence with its first shop setup in South Usman Road in T Nagar, Chennai, in 1978. The very first product sold by Vasanth & Co was foldable netted chairs costing Rs 25. He used to sell four chairs every day on an instalment basis.
Seven years later, the advent of colour television sets and Asian Games gave him the breakthrough of his life.
He turned his focus onto institutional sales in that year - 1985, when he decided to team up with Shakti Finance and Ashok Leyland to further his vision. He would travel to Ashok Leyland office in Ennore from his home which would take roughly two and a half hours every day for six months.
The investment of time and perseverance helped him secure the first biggest order for 960 colour TV sets, a first in the entire country back then. At present, his company has 86 showrooms in almost every town in Tamil Nadu.
He also attempted to develop in house brand of mixies, fans and TV sets, which he gave up about a decade. His chain continues to sell all leading brands of home appliances and mobile phones.
In 2008, he launched Vasanth TV. He has published - Vetri Kodikattu (Tamil) and Vetri Padikattu 3 Volumes (Tamil) which is his autobiography telecasted in Vasanth TV as a series.
He was elected to Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in 2006 and in 2016 from Nanguneri constituency in Kanniyakumari district. He was elected to Lok Sabha from Kanniyakumari in 2019 which forced him to vacate his MLA seat.
Read: Congress MP H Vasanthakumar dies of COVID-19 at a Chennai hospital: TN Cong Committee
