危 wēi  danger

Delhi-based chicken producer, Kegg Farms was founded by Vinod Kapur in 1967.  Kapur had realised that the Indian poultry sector lagged behind western markets in its adoption of genetic breeding, accordingly he began breeding birds specifically for the Indian urban market.    The company’s chicken was particularly successful due to its resilience and egg productivity.  However, the company’s solid economics were threatened in 1990 when industrial and foreign trade policies were liberalized, enabling foreign competitors to enter the market for the first time – would Kegg Farms be able to compete with the better-financed global firms?

机 jī opportunity

Kapur rightly predicted that the foreign entrants would focus on the attractive urban markets and switched his focus to the rural market – a tougher proposition because of the harsher environment and lack of infrastructure.  He overcame these challenges by breeding a new bird, the ‘Kuroiler’ which was faster growing, laid eggs more frequently and was capable of scavenging for its food.  He also catalysed the creation of a completely new supply chain by empowering entrepreneurs to take on the required roles – Keg Farms now supplies to 1,500 entrepreneur-owned ‘mother units’ across India which in turn supply to villages through vendors on cycles.  Finally, rural villagers, frequently women, supplement their income by selling eggs or the birds for meat (a liquid asset for when they require money urgently). As of November 2006, Kegg Farms was supplying chicks to about 4 million poor villagers, generating incomes for 700,000 households.

how about…

• Scenario-planning for potential legislation changes?
• Where no economic supply chain exists, catalysing the growth of your own through entrepreneurship?

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