Any kid from the 80s and 90s decade will resonate with this. We all have vivid memories of games played in the backyard of our homes- hopscotch, catch-and-cook, hide-and-seek, and whatnot. But for many, a quick ride on the most popular vehicle then, the humble bicycle, still remains the highlight of the day, instantly transforming it into a day-well-spent.
And this vehicle was made popular by a group of brothers- The Munjal Brothers from Kamalia, and the brand of cycles we are talking about is ‘Hero Cycles’
The Story of ‘Hero’ and The Munjal Brothers
Brij Lall Mohan and his three brothers- Dayanand, Satyanand, and Om Prakash were living a comfortable childhood when the partition took away everything they had. This got them all to Amritsar, where they started a bicycle spare parts business, which unfortunately did not do well.
Sensing an opportunity, they shifted base to Ludhiana but with a bigger plan- manufacturing and assembling bicycles. The brothers took a loan of INR 50,000 to establish their setup. This was in 1956.
Having gauged advantages and opportunities by the way of manufacturing bicycles, the Munjal Brothers started to make 25 cycles a day. By the end of the decade, Hero Cycles was making one lakh cycles annually.
However, Hero’s speed did not stop here. By 1986, the company created records manufacturing over 22 lakh cycles, having earned its place in The Guinness Book of World Records, as the largest manufacturer of bicycles in the world.
Today, the company exports its cycles to more than 89 countries all over the world. It has 7500 outlets worldwide, employing more than 30,000 employees.
Reasons Why the Munjal brothers succeeded
1. Ethics
The brothers’ business ethics were strong and uncompromised. They took care of every business function with an interest shown by very few.
Once when a strike hit the company’s manufacturing abilities, it was OM Prakash Munjal himself, who went on with manufacturing them, so that a customer would be able to keep up a cycle’s promise to his son or daughter.
Such high were their ethics, that when once a truckload of their consignment was burnt, another fresh one was sent to the said dealer without asking for any compensation, deeming it to be none of the dealer’s
fault.
2. High standard of thinking
From the beginning, the brothers knew that running a business would take a village. And so, they took every stakeholder involved in the business along with them, on their path of progress. Be it the dealers, their customers, their employees, all.
They also, gave a share of their profits to dealers, thereby raising their loyalty towards ‘Hero’
Hero Motors
Apart from manufacturing bicycles, the brothers also made products like automotive and cycle parts under Hero Motors. The company also provided IT services, under the Hero Group.
It also manufactured two-wheelers in collaboration with Steyr Daimler Puch, Austria, under the name Hero Majestic.
In the 1980s, Hero collaborated with Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer Honda, making bikes for almost three decades, under Hero Honda Motors Ltd. However, after their split in 2011, making Hero
rebrand itself to Hero MotoCorp, the company manufactures 75 lakh cycles every year.
All of the four visionary brothers bid adieu to the world, one after the other, within a short span of a year and a half. Today, the company is managed by Pankaj Munjal, son of Om Prakash Munjal.
Sources:
https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/social-relevance/munjal-family-hero-cycles-group-story-562240.html
