Meet woman who turned a small business into Rs 8000 crore empire with apples and mangos, she began India's most iconic…

There is a notion that people who have family businesses have no story of hard work and hustling, but one woman has proved this wrong by her stupendous efforts to revive her business successfully.

We are talking about Nadia Chauhan who joined her father Prakash Chauhan's company, Parle Agro, in 2003, when the company's earnings were just Rs 300 crore. Thereafter in 2017, the company grew its revenue to Rs 4200 crore. The earnings in 2022-2023 were around Rs 8000 crore, according to BT. Nadia was efficacious in creating this massive turnaround.

Currently, Nadia, 37, is the chief marketing officer and joint managing director of Parle Agro, and manages strategy, sales, marketing and R&D. While her elder sister, Schauna Chauhan, is the CEO of the company.

As per Forbes, Nadia was trained from childhood by her father and would spend her free time at company's Mumbai headquarters.

Established in 1985, the company began the same year Nadia was born. Prakash then introduced a mango drink that was served in Tetrapak, a product of a Swedish company.

Upon joining the company at 17 after her graduation from HR College of Commerce and Economics, Nadia observed that the company's 95 per cent of earnings came from a single item-- Frooti. 

Thereafter, she took the mettle to shift focus onto other items. In 2005, she launched Appy Fizz, which became popular. She also innovated and assisted the company launch other products including India's first packaged Nimboo Pani.

She and her sister then established several new manufacturing units. In 2015, Nadia relaunched Frooti, which worked wonders for the company. According to Business Today, Frooti's contribution to the business became 48 per cent. The company's packaged drinking water, Bailey, became a Rs 1000 crore business. She is now set to make the company a Rs 20000 crore brand by 2030.

The Parle Group was established in 1929 by Mohanlal Chauhan, the great-grandfather of Nadia Chauhan. Jayantilal, Mohanlal's youngest son, began the beverages business in 1959. The company that owned brands like Thums Up, Limca, Gold Spot, Citra and Maaza, were transferred to Ramesh Chauhan and Prakash Chauhan.

Thereafter, the Group sold these brands to Coca-Cola in the 1990s. The two brothers later distributed businesses among themselves.