New Delhi: The proud Founder & Owner of Cafe Coffee Day is V. G. Siddhartha, a man whose work speaks for itself despite his lack of celebrity status. His family has had coffee plantations in the Chikmangaluru area of Karnataka for more than 140 years, and he was born into this family.
He holds a master’s degree in economics from the Mangalore University in Karnataka, and he and his wife Malavika Krishna, a former governor of Maharashtra and daughter of S. M. Krishna, the former chief minister of Karnataka, also have two children. (Also Read: Architect Of Dominos’ Indian Success: Meet Ajay Kaul, The Visionary CEO Who Transformed The Brand’s Fate)
Siddhartha always possessed traits akin to those of a natural businessperson, and to top it all, he also possessed a mystifying knack for seeing opportunities for savings in any circumstance! (Also Read: Jeff Bezos’ Pre-Wedding Plan With Lauren Sanchez Has A Twist And It’s Not What You Think)
Professionally, he is a hard-core workaholic who loves to stay put for a minimum of 12–14 hours a day, seven days a week. He is a restless and incredibly swift decision-maker.
His corporate empire, which includes retail (Café Coffee Day), financial services (Way2Wealth Securities), venture capital, hospitality, furniture, logistics (SICAL), and land development, is the total of all of that. Siddhartha now has a net worth of $1.09 billion.
How The Professional Journey Of V. G. Siddhartha Started?
After arriving in Bombay, the city of dreams, he immediately entered a Dhaba Hotel and rented a room with a common bathroom for Rs 120 per day at Fort. And he was only 21 when he began all of this!
The following day, Siddhartha, who had never before used a lift, climbed the six floors and, without an appointment, casually wandered into Mahendra Kampani’s office at JM Financial.
He received the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join Mr. Naveen Bhai Kampani J M Financial Services (now J M Morgan Stanley) in Mumbai as a management trainee/intern for trading in the Indian Stock Market after a little wait and a fruitful talk.
He acquired Kampani’s trust during this entire process and learned everything there was to know about the world of investing. And in no time at all, Siddhartha was in charge of some very significant business houses’ accounts.
He was personally educated by Kampani to recognise the significance of the minute gold pieces on the surface and to grab them before plunging into the stream. Because of Kampani’s smart counsel, Siddhartha started using the small amounts of gold he had amassed from the then-rising stock market (if you get what we mean) to purchase his own coffee estates.
Even though the job didn’t require him to accomplish much, working directly under the company’s direction gave him access to knowledge that was absolutely priceless. In fact, he still considers himself blessed to have had the opportunity and to have received the helpful counsel he did.
Siddhartha believed that he was prepared to return and launch his own venture after working with JM for nearly two years. He thanked Kampani and told him that he owed him a lot, then quickly returned to fulfill his greatest desire: to succeed in business.
After two years, Siddhartha returned to Bangalore and made the decision to launch his own financial company with the remaining Rs. 2 lakhs. The stock market had plummeted at the time, and he was searching for a fresh investment opportunity that would yield good profits.
As a result, he founded Sivan Securities. He began by purchasing a stock market card for Rs. 30,000, and along with that, he also acquired Sivan Securities, a business that would later become Way2wealth Securities Ltd. in 2000.
And Siddhartha was able to turn the business into a very prosperous investment banking and stockbroking firm.
How Cafe Coffe Day Started?
Siddhartha later met a German businessman who was interested in buying coffee beans from him for his “leading coffee brand in Germany – Tchibo” after a 10-year absence.
The owner of Tchibo happened to share his story during that brief conversation about how his company began in a modest 10-foot shop in Hamburg, Germany, with very little capital, and how, in the course of nearly 40 years, it grew to become a multi-million dollar enterprise and the second-largest coffee roaster in Europe.
V. G. Siddhartha: Downfall
He was charged with tax evasion in 2017, and the income tax division searched 20 addresses connected to him. He allegedly concealed an income of Rs. 650 crore. Despite the fact that the CCD group’s coffee business is on a positive development trajectory, Siddhartha is reportedly under severe financial strain.