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    The Inheritors Book Review: Family Business Lessons from HNIMR Pune

    Team Inheritors and Sonu Bhasin's The Inheritors at HNIMR Pune: Parachute, Royal Enfield, Chitale and five family business lessons for young Indians.

    The Inheritors Book Review: Family Business Lessons from HNIMR Pune

    On 29 October 2026 I was chief guest and judge at "Ink and Insights", a book review competition at MKSSS's Smt. Hiraben Nanavati Institute of Management and Research for Women (HNIMR), Karvenagar, Pune, on the theme "Entrepreneurship: From Vision to Venture: Learning Through Books". The third team of the morning, Team Inheritors, chose a book close to my heart: The Inheritors: Stories of Entrepreneurship and Success by Sonu Bhasin, published by Penguin in 2017 with a foreword by Anand Mahindra.

    Most entrepreneurship talk is about starting from zero. This book asks a different question: when a successful business is handed to the next generation, what does it really take to keep it alive and make it bigger?

    It all started with a blue bottle

    Team Inheritors opened with a question everyone in the hall could answer. How many of you have a bottle of Parachute coconut oil at home? Almost every hand went up. Then they asked: if you knew the story of ambition, competition and one big decision behind that bottle, would you look at it the same way?

    From there they introduced the author, a former senior banker who held leadership roles at ING, Axis Bank and Yes Bank, and walked us through the family businesses in the book, including Marico, Dabur, Berger Paints, Keventers, Max Group, Motilal Oswal and others. Nine businesses in all, and one thing in common: every one is a family business.

    The heart of their presentation was Harsh Mariwala. When Hindustan Lever wanted to acquire Parachute, he chose not to sell and to keep building the brand himself. Today Marico is a large company and Parachute is his brand, not someone else's. The team called this conviction, the courage to choose a long road over an easy reward.

    The six lessons they drew out

    Their closing thought was beautiful: a legacy may be inherited, but its future must be earned.

    What I asked Team Inheritors

    I asked them what the hardest challenge is for the next generation stepping into a family business. One student said you must respect what your elders built and then add new ideas for growth: understand the past, work on the present, prepare for the future. Another added a point I liked very much: society expects you to do exactly what your father and grandfather did, but modern technology makes that impossible.

    Then I asked if anyone had a family business. One student's family runs several, with a clothing shop in Ahilyanagar as the main one. So I asked her directly: if your family hands it over tomorrow, what two or three changes would you make? She spoke about customer needs changing quickly, trends moving fast, and her father's worry about risk. Her answer was to keep loyal customers close and invest in branding through social media and digital marketing. A practical, grounded answer.

    I also asked the team to explain one business in a minute. They chose Marico and told us how oil once came in square tin cans that rats would bite through, causing leaks, and how Marico moved to plastic, cylindrical packaging that solved the problem. I added that Marico also studied Indian customers closely and used packaging and pricing, such as small travel packs, as a growth strategy.

    Stories I shared with them

    I told them about Royal Enfield. The Bullet came to India with a large Indian Army order in the 1950s and was later manufactured in Madras. By the 1990s, sales were falling as newer, better-looking bikes arrived. In the mid-2000s, when many voices wanted to shut the motorcycle business down, a young Siddharth Lal from the next generation asked for a chance. What he did not do is just as important as what he did. He preserved the strength and look of the bike and made only small changes. Today a Royal Enfield on the road is a matter of pride.

    I also spoke about my friend Indranil Chitale, a fourth-generation entrepreneur from Chitale Bandhu. When the business came into his hands, the family began signing a brand ambassador and opening franchises, so the famous Bakarwadi was no longer only a Laxmi Road story. And, a lovely moment, one of the students then told us that she is a Chitale too!

    Finally, I shared a story from Baramati. A friend there has built a large education business from zero, but his son only demands an expensive SUV before he will work. The father's real worry is succession: who is next? My message to the students was this. Even if you do not have a family business, many successful owners are searching for good people to carry their business forward. Network with them. Visit trade fairs like Gulfood in Dubai for food, or fairs in China and Germany for manufacturing. Get a passport before you buy a new phone.

    Five lessons for Indian students and young founders

    1. Inheriting is easy, deserving is the work

    Whether you join your family's shop or someone else's company, respect is earned through results, not surname.

    2. Preserve the core, change the edges

    Royal Enfield and Parachute both show that small, smart changes to packaging, design or reach can revive a brand without losing what customers love.

    3. Say no to easy money when the vision is bigger

    Harsh Mariwala's refusal to sell Parachute is a reminder to think about where your business could be in ten years, not just this year.

    4. Succession is an opportunity for outsiders too

    Many owners do not have a ready successor. A capable young manager who builds trust can grow into that role.

    5. Go and see the world

    Trade fairs and travel give exposure that no classroom can. Invest in learning before gadgets.

    A note to Team Inheritors

    You picked a very interesting hook, and you worked hard. Differences of opinion with elders will come when you join any family business. That is okay. Adjust, stay flexible, and take the business one step higher than you found it.

    If you run a college or company: I run book-review competitions, entrepreneurship sessions and leadership workshops for MBA students and working teams across India. If you would like a session like this for your students or your people, write to me here and we can plan it together.

    With thanks to HNIMR

    My thanks to Dr. Priyanka Singh, Director of HNIMR; Mrs. Manjushree K. Nawale, Librarian, and her library team, who organised Ink & Insights 2026; Mr. Vishwajeet Deshmukh, Placement Officer; Mr. Devadatta Sant; and Ms. Minal Kotwal, for hosting me so warmly and making the day run so smoothly. And to every student who stood on that stage with a book in hand: thank you for the courage and the creativity.

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    Avinash Chate

    India's Leading Corporate Trainer | TEDx Speaker | Author

    With 1000+ organizations trained including RBI, JSW Steels, and Ferrero, Avinash Chate delivers high-impact corporate training across India. Creator of the KITE Leadership Framework and bestselling author of "The Winning Edge."

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