Vamsi Gaddam joined Visaka Industries when he was 22-year-old and took it to new heights. The family business now clocks a Rs 1,143 crore turnover.
Vamsi Gaddam, who joined the family firm as a 22-year-old, has pushed Hyderabad-based Visaka Industries Ltd. to new heights, diversifying into eco-friendly products such as a revolutionary solar roof-panel and increasing the company’s annual turnover to Rs 1,143 crore in 2020-21. He has also started his own electric bike firm, Atumobile Private Limited, which is on track to make Rs 6 crore in its first year.
Vamsi, now 32, began his employment with Visaka Industries in 2011 as a management trainee following his degree in science from Purdue University in the United States in 2010.
He was promoted to business strategist after two years.
In 2018, Vamsi introduced ‘Atum,’ a product that is both a roof and a solar panel, named after an Egyptian Sun God. Atum is a completely integrated, seamless solar roof comprised of poly or mono-crystalline solar cells and cement boards that generates electricity.
According to Vamsi, it is a highly durable roofing material, making it the world’s first solar panel that can be used directly as a roof. It offers a sleeker and simpler integrated solar roofing system that boosts energy generation by 20%. Despite being smaller than a MacBook, it can withstand loads of up to 300 kg per square foot.
With warehouses, hospitals, and other industries as target customers, Atum is on track to make Rs 20 crore in sales during FY 2021-22, more than double the previous year’s revenues of Rs 7 crore.
Vamsi continues, “We have 5 lakh square feet of space deployed around the country and projects in Dubai, South Africa, Kenya, and Bhutan.”
Visaka was founded in 1981 as a cement-roof manufacturing company by his grandpa, Late G Venkat Swamy, and his father, G Vivekanand, who is the company’s chairman. Since then, the company has expanded into textiles, cement fibre boards, and solar roofing.
The company claims that by introducing Vnext into the market, it has saved approximately five million trees from extinction and approximately 90,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
VNext, which is made of plywood and gypsum plaster, is resistant to termites, water, and fire and has a lifespan of 50 years.
Furthermore, it is half the price of plywood, according to Vamsi, who is eager to promote the product.
Vnext, which brought in Rs 36 crore in revenue when he joined the company in 2011, will bring in Rs 200 crore in sales in fiscal 2020-21.
Vamsi intends to treble yearly sales to Rs 500 crore by 2022-2025 in the following three years.
From selling 1,000 square feet per month in 2011, we currently sell over 1 crore square feet per month through 12,000 selling locations across the country and export to 30 countries, according to Vamsi. Meanwhile, as an eco-entrepreneur, Vamsi founded his own electric bike firm, Atumobile Private Limited, in 2020 with a Rs 1.5 crore investment.
In anticipation of the predicted surge in electric vehicles, Vamsi has also created ATUM Charge, a network of e-vehicle charging stations, under Visaka.
They have already installed 25 charging stations throughout the country, with ten of them in Hyderabad alone.
Vamsi, who is well-known for his social responsibility and eco-conscious company style, seeks to promote the adoption of green inventions that serve as carbon offsets.
The young entrepreneur is a firm believer in the importance of sustainable products in achieving a green and sustainable earth.
He claims that by entering sustainable business lines such as cement fibre boards and solar roofs, he is ensuring that he will be relevant in the future, where sustainability and eco-friendly technologies, products, and services will be preferred by consumers and viewed favourably by investors and regulators.
Vamsi explains that ensuring the country’s self-sufficiency is a major component of his business strategy.
Visaka Industries Ltd. is traded on the National Stock Exchange as well as the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Vamsi believes that enterprises must work on creating a more sustainable and environmentally friendly world. They have 14 manufacturing sites in India, 13 marketing offices, and a nationwide distribution channel with approximately 7,000 dealer shops.
Looking back on his time at Visaka, Vamsi claims that he was able to transform his family’s traditional and conservative thinking over time by encouraging them to explore new markets and create creative products.
Vamsi, a motivated innovator and entrepreneur, has catalysed Visaka’s metamorphosis into one of India’s top providers of sustainable building materials.
