The Hindu Business Line : A date with enterprise

To make a point that relentless effort, value addition through innovation, quality-consciousness and good marketing skills can combine to pay rich dividends, here is the story of Lion Dates, a brand from Tiruchi, to prove it.

The man behind the Rs 100-crore brand, P. Ponnudurai, who started life as a distributor for a well-known cleaning powder in that region, says he always had the fire in his belly to “distribute” his own products one day.

But how come he zeroed in on dates?

“Those days some grocers used to sell dates. Dates are very sticky and messy, and as a result very difficult to handle. One day, when a shopkeeper asked me to put the dates he stocked into small plastic packets for convenience, I got the spark,” he recalls.

He started the business. But, dates were still a commodity. Inspired by the cleaning powder he was distributing, he wanted to brand it. Somehow, for reasons he can’t quite explain, the name Lion sprung up and he went on to print labels with the image of a lion, which he took from a schoolbook.

Then came value addition, based on a conversation he overheard. Dates would be a good snack if only one didn’t have to wrestle with the seed, he recalls them saying. And thus were introduced seedless dates under the Lion brand. As the demand grew in the locality and in the surrounding districts, he realised the market’s potential. He wanted to promote the brand. He approached Ceylon Radio with his own script for an advertisement. It paid, and his business grew faster.

However, it was not all smooth sailing. Initially, he was buying dates from the Chennai wholesale market. As this market could not meet his demand, he went to Mumbai. “I did not know Hindi or English. But, luckily I chanced upon a middleman who could speak Tamil. He introduced me to an importer there,” he says. However, after a point of time, Ponnudurai found it very difficult as the Mumbai importer insisted on bigger consignments every time, even when there was no demand.

In 1995, learning about him and his growing business, an Omani dates export organisation invited him to visit Oman and also promised him a regular supply.

In the meanwhile, he also approached a professional ad film maker to promote the brand in a bigger way and take it to other States in the South. “It is actually G.N. Dhinesh Kumar, Creative Director of Saroj Ad Creators, who redesigned the label and the packaging of the product in convenient SKUs,” he recalls gratefully.

The brand got a new communication strategy. “The task before us was to take the brand to a wider audience. As there were not many branded players in the segment, we had to first grow the market. So, we spoke about the product’s benefit rather than the brand name,” says Mr Kumar.

Then slowly it brought in the brand name with a tag ‘Be Like A Lion’. To counter the competition from unorganised players, the brand came out with a campaign highlighting the quality and hygiene of its product. The company has striven to improve the brand communication considerably over time.

It also extended the product range to dates syrup. According to Ponnudurai, it initially imported syrup in barrels from Emirates Dates Factory in Dubai and repackaged it and marketed here.

“In the year 2000, with the volumes picking up, apart from importing, we also began to make dates syrup in our factory here,” he says.

Currently, with five factories in Tiruchi, Lion Dates Impex Pvt Ltd employs over 900 people, mostly women from the nearby villages.

Recently, it also extended the brand name to other products such as pickles, mixed fruit jam, honey and tamarind. That apart, it is currently test marketing Choco-Dates – dates with almonds inside, dipped in chocolate.

Lion Dates is also planning to introduce more products using dates as the base, with children as the prime target audience. “We may enter the beverages segment,” Ponnudurai hints.

Of all the new products, honey is said to be a big hit. “It contributes 25 per cent of our total turnover,” he says.

His first investment in this business way back in 1978 was Rs 4,700. He bought 320 kg of dates from a wholesaler in Chennai and packed them in convenient 100 and 200 gm packs and supplied them to the grocers in and around Tiruchi. Exactly 30 years later, last year he imported 5,000 tonnes of dates from Oman, Dubai and Tunisia. The brand now has a national footprint with 700 distributors across the country. “Now, I even export dates back to some West Asian countries after value-addition,” he says with pride.

Today, Lion Dates is almost a monopoly in the Indian market and Ponnudurai is so obsessed with the brand that the caller tune on his mobile is one of the Lion Dates’ jingles.

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