MALAVIKA HEGDE - RISING FROM THE ASHES

Determined to revive the legacy of her late husband and founder of Café Coffee Day, V.G. Siddhartha, Malavika Hegde has been working strategically to reduce the company's debt and make it profitable

- Parth Singh

After the untimely death of V.G. Siddhartha, the founder of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited (CDEL), which runs the Café Coffee Day (CCD) chain of coffee outlets, in July 2019, most people had written the company off. After all, Siddhartha had left behind a huge debt of around Rs 7,000 crore.

Amid questions on who would take over CDEL, Siddhartha’s wife Malavika Hegde stepped forward. Having studied engineering, she did not have a formal degree in business, but she had been associated with the company since her marriage.

The debt was enough to burn CDEL to the ground, but Hegde took upon herself the daunting challenge to free the company from it. She took charge of CDEL as the chief executive officer in December 2020 and from thereon never took a step back.

Her passion and commitment were clear right from the beginning. In a letter to all the employees of her group, she said that the Coffee Day story was “worth preserving” and assured them that she would bring down the company’s debt to a manageable level. Despite stepping up in a state of crisis, she rarely betrayed any signs of panic or fear.

Fulfilling Promises