Vaibhav Maloo: Leading Tremendous Reforms In Supply Chain Management
Vaibhav Maloo
MD
Engaging in an exclusive interaction with CEO Insights, Vaibhav Maloo highlights the nuances of his journey as a competent new-age leader of the oil and gas domain spearheading the operations at the Enso Group.
1. Give us a brief detail about your educational background and professional background and how has it helped you in your journey so far? Owing to your experience and expertise, what different roles have you been undertaking at Enso Group services?
After completing my UG in Business Administration with a concentration in General Management from Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, I attended a postgraduate diploma in Global Business from Said Business School at Oxford University. There, having found my love for academia, I was motivated to study further and joined Cambridge's Judge Business School for Executive MBA, but my sudden relocation back to Mumbai made me quit it midway. Educational institutes are transformational if you connect with your study material, and it can seem like hard work if you don't like your subject. I connected business studies to my future which I had chosen for myself ever since I can remember.
I have been the Director on the
board of Enso group of companies as well as of the companies we invested in, from the early years of my studying. Being young, we had a fresh zeal to excel and expand vociferously. We undertook many oil & gas explorations licenses in our early years when I was in charge of Business Development & Strategy. I soon was promoted to MD's role as well as headed the healthcare business when it started. Although I experienced my first major failure soon, it has taught me many things and made me more risk-averse. However, my optimism still stays. The work study model is hectic, but it gave me an edge as applying knowledge to practice gave me a jumpstart early on.
2. What were some of the initial challenges that taught you the basic lessons of managing diversified functions of organizations and how did you achieve the ladder of success?
While taking time off from my college to run the business during its exciting initial years, I learned the art of practical application of theory at an early age. I spent a semester in CMU's Doha campus so I could transit back and forth from Mumbai, where I was working. Many of the projects I undertook in college were on oil prices, oil & gas industry and my professors at CMU were cooperative with my work cum studying model. Understanding my circumstances and predicaments, they even accommodated me on video conferencing for a class once.
Although it is not easy to build expertise in every field of business, I gave micro-details a shot and made sure I learned the ropes as much as possible of each industry, be it real-estate, infrastructure, mining, healthcare, oil & gas or absolutely anything else. With time grip over things improves and I always self-motivated myself to stay focused and learnt the art of staying patient., an important thing to have in my opinion. I learnt that there are no shortcuts in life.
3. What was the most crucial project Enso Group India has designed and executed under your guidance?
There are two projects which I am particularly proud of. While I was practically involved in just one of them. The first one is the gas block in Irkutsk in Siberian Russia, where after years of drilling and exploration work of 2D/3D seismic, we finally found a significant amount of gas reserves. The second
We have slowed down, compared to our fiery start and are now focusing on quality assets only
2. What were some of the initial challenges that taught you the basic lessons of managing diversified functions of organizations and how did you achieve the ladder of success?
While taking time off from my college to run the business during its exciting initial years, I learned the art of practical application of theory at an early age. I spent a semester in CMU's Doha campus so I could transit back and forth from Mumbai, where I was working. Many of the projects I undertook in college were on oil prices, oil & gas industry and my professors at CMU were cooperative with my work cum studying model. Understanding my circumstances and predicaments, they even accommodated me on video conferencing for a class once.
Although it is not easy to build expertise in every field of business, I gave micro-details a shot and made sure I learned the ropes as much as possible of each industry, be it real-estate, infrastructure, mining, healthcare, oil & gas or absolutely anything else. With time grip over things improves and I always self-motivated myself to stay focused and learnt the art of staying patient., an important thing to have in my opinion. I learnt that there are no shortcuts in life.
3. What was the most crucial project Enso Group India has designed and executed under your guidance?
There are two projects which I am particularly proud of. While I was practically involved in just one of them. The first one is the gas block in Irkutsk in Siberian Russia, where after years of drilling and exploration work of 2D/3D seismic, we finally found a significant amount of gas reserves. The second
project, which I saw come alive during my tenure, and which doesn't remain with the group anymore is the Rapid Metro Gurugram, near Delhi, in north India. It was one of the first few metro projects in the country when we incepted it in JV with other Indian partners.
4. As the MD of Enso Group, what are the key drivers that you deploy to ensure that the company's engineering & operations are used appropriately to meet its short/long-term needs?
As an originally natural resources based group, let me answer this question from this industry's perspective. We were never very heavy on our books with salary figures as we rely largely on consultants and outsourcing agencies to do most of the work. This holds true for mining and oil & gas. If there was a key driver, it would be our team's ability to identify quality assets. It takes a long time to get a field to have certified proven reserves, if there are any, and a much longer time to bring it into production. That is the nature of this industry. We have slowed down, compared to our fiery start and are now focusing on quality assets only.
5. In your professional journey so far, which are the milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction - both as an individual and an MD?
For me, hitting the gas in our field in Russia, after many attempts in different parts of the world, was our biggest milestone. We had 14 blocks in 5 companies when we started, but Russia has become our biggest success story. Enso Healthcare LLP has also got a contract as an aggregator for Sputnik V, which is another milestone for me. To be able to make a difference in the biggest challenge of the century, Covid-19 has been particularly self-fulfilling.
Vaibhav Maloo, MD, Enso Group
Apart from being the MD of Enso Group, Vaibhav Maloo has functioned as the director of many group companies. He is a partner of Enso Healthcare LLP, an aggregator for Sputnik V, and was instrumental in establishing Enso Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the group. He also was MD of Tour de India, India's largest cyclothon, in 2013, when the group sponsored it. He enjoys writing as a hobby and has written multiple columns for Business World.
Hobby: Foodie, columnist, music, movies, cricket
Favourite Cuisine: Mexican & Chinese
Favourite Book: Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Travel Destination: Maldives
4. As the MD of Enso Group, what are the key drivers that you deploy to ensure that the company's engineering & operations are used appropriately to meet its short/long-term needs?
As an originally natural resources based group, let me answer this question from this industry's perspective. We were never very heavy on our books with salary figures as we rely largely on consultants and outsourcing agencies to do most of the work. This holds true for mining and oil & gas. If there was a key driver, it would be our team's ability to identify quality assets. It takes a long time to get a field to have certified proven reserves, if there are any, and a much longer time to bring it into production. That is the nature of this industry. We have slowed down, compared to our fiery start and are now focusing on quality assets only.
5. In your professional journey so far, which are the milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction - both as an individual and an MD?
For me, hitting the gas in our field in Russia, after many attempts in different parts of the world, was our biggest milestone. We had 14 blocks in 5 companies when we started, but Russia has become our biggest success story. Enso Healthcare LLP has also got a contract as an aggregator for Sputnik V, which is another milestone for me. To be able to make a difference in the biggest challenge of the century, Covid-19 has been particularly self-fulfilling.
Vaibhav Maloo, MD, Enso Group
Apart from being the MD of Enso Group, Vaibhav Maloo has functioned as the director of many group companies. He is a partner of Enso Healthcare LLP, an aggregator for Sputnik V, and was instrumental in establishing Enso Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the group. He also was MD of Tour de India, India's largest cyclothon, in 2013, when the group sponsored it. He enjoys writing as a hobby and has written multiple columns for Business World.
Hobby: Foodie, columnist, music, movies, cricket
Favourite Cuisine: Mexican & Chinese
Favourite Book: Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Travel Destination: Maldives