M. P. Ramachandran, 65, left Kerala for Mumbai to do his post-graduation in financial management and started his career as an accountant there in 1971. He started Jyothy Laboratories in 1983 with a capital of Rs 5,000 with a single product, Ujala, and five employees.
Today, more than 5,000 people work at Jyothy, including his daughter, for whom the company is named. Today, she has also joined the board of the company and looks after the company's sales, marketing and branding activities.
Jyothy Labs has generated employment mainly in rural India of which 60 per cent are women. From a proprietary concern making a single brand, Jyothy has become a multibrand company manufacturing and marketing fabric whiteners, mosquito coils, soaps, detergents and incense sticks.
The company has also attracted investments from private equity players such as Baring India Investment, CDC Financial Services and ICICI Bank Canada and UK since the year 2000.
Ramachandran believes a strong and economically liberated India can be realised by Indians only, by dreaming big and translating those dreams into reality with intelligence and hard work. Today, every third house in India (37 per cent of Indian households) uses Ujala, according to IMRB.
Ujala products are exported to 17 countries. Ramachandran visits all the factories at least once a year to motivate his staff and enquire about their welfare. He also makes it a point to eat with them and every employee has direct access to him. He feels proud that Jyothy Labs is able to reach mosquito repellent technology to the common man with the help of technology that has been developed by DRDO, Ministry of Defence, Government of India.