What’s in a Name?

3 memories from OfBusiness that stand out for me – all to do with a name.

I remember 3 years back, when we were plateauing in commerce, our recently elected BU head and I sat down for ideas. And we came to the conclusion that it should have a name of its own. We coined it “Ofcommerce.” The business unit today does more than $2B in revenue, growing faster with scale.

We did the same 5 years back. We named our financing company, Oxyzo, to begin with. Today, it stands out as a separate identity, the crown jewel from our stable.

We did the same a year back too. We named our agri company O’AgriFarm. It has grown to a $500M revenue business in 12-15 months.

Sure, many things contributed. But in our opinion, it was the name to start with. We could have well named them OfBusiness Financial Services, OfBusiness Agri Products, or the ilk. We chose not to, and in hindsight, it was one of the best decisions we made.

A new name was a new identity. A new name was a new energy. A new name was a new reason to unite. A new name for a new beginning was the only way, quite unlike the prevailing logic of building with an umbrella corporate brand.

Yes, a new identity ran the risk of different fiefdoms being built away from the core. But our experience at OfBusiness has always been that when people are united by common shared values (governance, health, and profitability first, growth a derivative), the risk is lessened if not mitigated.

Last 2 days, as we gathered in Oxyzo as a team in Hyderabad to celebrate our coming of age, the prophecy would have never rang more true.

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