We Will Have 30 Franchisees By 2020

Naresh Sharma , CEO , Skora paints

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A startup paint company is slowly, but surely, scripting an exciting success story. Backed by a unique technology, Indian Paints Industry is treading an equally unique path to make its mark in the highly-competitive Indian paint industry. Indian Paints Industry is betting big on Skora, a vast range of smart paints powered by the Smart Quartz Paint technology.

"Skora's technology, which is a purely-Indian technology, has helped us churn out a range of smart paints that last longer and address most of the problems. We are working on a patent for this technology," reveals Indian Paints Industry CEO Naresh Sharma. Mr Sharma, a veteran of the Indian paint industry, has drawn up an ambitious plan to make Skora a leading Indian brand.

Mr Sharma, who began his career as a sales manager at Kansai Nerolac (formerly Goodlass Nerolac) and then went on to head US paint company Sherwin-Williams' Indian operations, has been providing consultancy services in the building materials segment since 2014. It was a chance meeting with Nitin Kadam, the managing director and proprietor of Indian Paints Industry, two years ago that got Mr Sharma to take over as the CEO of the Mumbai-based company. "The new technology of Skora appealed to me. Having built around four brands in the paint industry, I took upon this challenging assignment of building Skora into a top brand,' adds Mr Sharma.

It is the passion of paints that binds Mr Kadam and Mr Sharma together. Interestingly, Mr Kadam, who also happens to be a farmer, developed this new technology along with his wife at India Paints Industry's plant in Satara. Joining hands with Mr Sharma will help his 15-year-old company scale greater heights and catapult Skora into the league of major paint brands. In an engaging interview with Amit Brahmabhatt