Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) founder, VG Siddhartha was found dead after he went missing mysteriously on Monday night near Mangaluru, Karnataka. A massive search operation was launched along Netravati River and after more than 24 hours, his body was found on the banks of the river.
On Tuesday morning, after reports of him missing poured in, political leaders and media persons thronged the residence of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, who happens to be the father-in-law of the CCD founder. His mortal has been displayed for the public to pay their last respects to the coffee tycoon in Belur Taluk, where his last rites will be performed.
Soon, controversies unfolded one after another, starting with the appearance of Siddhartha’s letter to Board of Directors and employees of Café Coffee Day, wherein he expressed his inability to tackle the financial crisis. He also mentioned that despite his best attempts, he failed to create a successful business.
The letter purportedly written by Shri VG Siddhartha which is circulating is dated July 27th.
I received a call from him on the 28th asking if we could meet up.
It’s unbelievable that a courageous man like him would resort to this. pic.twitter.com/bXcJhHz0QS
— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) July 30, 2019
The Cafe Coffee Day enterprise shares hit a record low of Rs 122.75 on BSE, which was 20 percent lower circuit for the second day in a row on news of the founder’s death.
CCD shares slumped after #VGSiddhartha went missing on Monday. https://t.co/knAs1RPskG
— News18.com (@news18dotcom) July 31, 2019
Seeing this case, one should realise that the journey of an entrepreneur is not an easy one. Only a few become successful without any controversies or news. It is so unfortunate that the star entrepreneurs of India are facing such a disastrous ending, which they don’t deserve.
There is a requirement from the government’s part to interfere at the ground level, make banking system more supportive, fix the country’s taxing policies, and take steps to promote entrepreneurs.
Indian banks need to focus on improving corporate governance to boost both financial outcomes and investor confidence: Studyhttps://t.co/oa9Gz2SsQN
— Livemint (@livemint) July 31, 2019
While addressing students at IIT Kanpur in 2016, Siddhartha said, “I honestly feel that India will have 15 to 20 top retail brands around the world, it is our dream and we want to be one among them, making every Indian proud of our brand. One day!”
Café Coffee Day, is one of India’s largest coffee chains and youngster’s favourite hangout spot. The story of CCD dates back to 1994, when VG Siddhartha wanted to start something on his own.
Born in Chikmagalur, Karnataka in a family growing coffee from last 140 years, he had coffee running in his blood. He completed his Master’s Degree in Economics from Mangalore University. His first step towards his goal was when he borrowed five lakhs from his dad. With this money in hand, Siddhartha bought a piece of land for three lakhs and saved the rest.
At 21, he moved to Mumbai where he worked at JM Financial Limited as a management trainee. After two years, he moved to Bangalore and invested in the stock market. With profits, Siddhartha bought coffee acres and by 1993, he had around 5,000 acres of land.
Very sad to know about the unfortunate death of Shri. V G Siddhartha. His contribution to Karnataka & India through his entrepreneurship shall be an example & always be remembered.
My deepest condolences to Shri. S M Krishna and family members & well-wishers of Siddhartha.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) July 31, 2019
The real story begins when he met the owner of Tchibo, a German Coffee Chain, and got inspired by his story. After coming home, he looked into the basics of coffee business and was shocked by the numbers and started to chase his dream to hit the 100 billion dollar mark.
He opened his first store in Bangalore with the tagline, ‘a lot can happen over coffee’. It was a cyber café groomed with high speed internet. He turned it into a luxury sit out spot, where people would come to surf the internet and as a bonus sip their favourite coffee.
Siddhartha hit all the right buttons to get his target audience. Soon, he opened 25 stores in Bangalore and 20 in Chennai. In 2011, CCD was named as the ‘most popular hangout joint amongst youth’ as well as ‘India’s most popular coffee joint’ at Indian hospitality excellence.
Deeply saddened by the sudden demise of #VGSiddhartha.A great dynamic entrepreneur of our time, he did show us how a humble coffee can create numerous job opportunities for many, his journey as an entrepreneur and his work towards charity shall always be remembered. RIP pic.twitter.com/AoTcjxiSwn
— Puneeth Rajkumar (@PuneethRajkumar) July 31, 2019
At present, this coffee empire has spread across 1556 stores in 135 cities in the 28 states of India. It also has international outlets in Vienna, Dubai and Prague, with a turnover of almost 13 billion rupees.
#VGSiddhartha case is very unfortunate.
Result of harassment by IT officials & decline of India’s entrepreneurial position turning virulent by the day, with Tax Terror & collapse of economy
Companies which flourished under UPA have been shut down with many people being jobless pic.twitter.com/rbwUymoM3B
— Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) July 31, 2019
Now, the Board of Directors have appointed SV Raganath as the Interim Chairman for the Coffee Day Enterprises.
S V Ranganath appointed as the interim chairman of the Coffee Day Enterprises; next meeting of the Board of Directors scheduled to be held on August 8. pic.twitter.com/XWAFFoWCCD
— ANI (@ANI) July 31, 2019
