Alumnus says business in India is 'still wide open'

11/4/09 - It was business as usual at last night's Honors Colloquium, when a panel of distinguished experts from the agricultural, industrial and service sectors explored the trials and tribulations of entering into India's emerging market place. The lecture was titled, "Doing Business In India, With India."John Struck, a 1974 graduate of the University of Rhode Island, spoke to students about his role as managing director of Wand Partners Inc., a New York-based boutique investment firm currently financing an international venture in India's agricultural sector.

Struck is Director of SeedWorks India, an investment of Wand Partners specializing in the breeding, production and marketing of high yielding hybrid seeds. They have been engineered to tolerate the harsh growing conditions in India.

Through research and development, SeedsWorks India currently generates $27.3 million in sales and is growing at an astounding rate of 50 percent a year.

"India is still a wide open market place," Struck said. "Because there's so much growth going on in so many sectors, we'll be able to continue growing like this in the future."

Along with India's economic boom, Struck attributes the employee base at SeedWorks India to be the underlying key to the company's success.

"You have to have the right people or you can't successfully operate a business," Struck said. "That's the challenge, and we've got the right people."

Following Struck, Tobias Leuhrig, a distinguished alumnus of URI's business and engineering programs, briefed students on his experience in India's automobile sector.

He spoke about his exploration of the Indian car and commercial vehicle sector and illuminated the cultural barriers that impede manufacturers from entering India's market.

Leuhrig works as the head of strategy for KSPG, a manufacturer of combustion engine parts operating out of Stuttgart, Germany. In years prior to working for KSPG, he was an international automotive consultant for McKinsey & Company.

India has four times the population of the United States, yet deploys only one-third of the amount of trucks. Leuhrig asserted the root of the problem is India's low GDP per capita and substantial lack of capital. Similar to Struck, he alluded to the fact that India's growth opportunity is what compelled his company to branch into the Indian market.

Shivan S. Subramaniam, chairman and CEO of FM Global, one of the largest property and insurance firms in the world, educated students on India's financial service sector.

Headquartered in Johnston, R.I., FM Global is at the forefront of its industry, operating in more than 200 countries and insuring about $15 billion in property across India.

Subramaniam said that FM Global is not your typical insurance company. Home to the world's largest fire research center, the company firmly holds the belief that initially preventing loss for clients should be a higher focus than helping them to recover from loss.

Subramaniam said the company's engineering is what separates them from other firms in the financial service sector.