Men of Steel

Some years, not long back, our business at OfBusiness started with steel. Construction and industrial steel, both. In commerce and credit, both. Across contractors and manufacturers, both. As we look back, the way OfBusiness has been built, standing for profitability, governance, quality and growth – is largely owing to our roots in steel.

Steel taught us value for money. No one in steel leaves a penny; customer jumps/ supplier haggles for Rs. 50/ metric ton – 0.1%! If you want to make money in steel, you have to be productive in sales and frugal in cost, essential to the B2B character.

Steel taught us credit. The entire market operates on credit, ranging from a week to 4 months. Assessing, servicing and making money from credit in steel can make you excel in credit anywhere.

Steel taught us risk management. Steel prices fluctuate heavily; thus, there is no way you can build a sustainable, profitable and high growth business if you carry inventory and take pricing risks. It teaches you to operate with minimal inventory and high control of processes with technology.

Steel taught us governance and compliance. Some of the best names in them in the industry are in Steel–Tata and JSW; the reverse is also true. The contrast of value accretion by being the best in processes vs the erosion due to being bad at it is best seen in Steel.

Steel taught us transport. The heaviest, the thinnest and the lengthiest need to be transported with control and at hours that test the best.

Steel taught us to plan and execute big. It’s a $100B+ market with strong tailwinds; you won’t last in it unless you think, act and dream big.

Steel, finally, taught us character. Manufacturing it is in dusty, hot and far from city centers. It needs you to push the human envelope to deal with it.

As our business grew, at least 7 of our other supply chains have scaled to a similar significance as Steel, but at the heart of it, we will always remain the (wo/)men of steel!

Read more from CEO speaks Column:-
– De-fracturing Manufacturing
– Our Moral Compass