BackJuvencio Maeztu: the Spaniard who loves us
Meet the man who is poking about in our homes to find new ways to make them beautiful and functional
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I have been researched. That’s the first thought that pops in my head when Juvencio Maeztu, managing director, Ikea India Pvt. Ltd, says he has read some of the interviews I have conducted. We are meeting at the Lodi—The Garden Restaurant, New Delhi, on a particularly wet afternoon in early September, one that has resulted in Maeztu being delayed by over an hour. But keeping in line with his meticulous nature (after all he has researched me), I had been informed at least 30 minutes in advance that he was stuck in traffic in Gurgaon.
For someone who came to India with an initial mandate for four years, more than one and a half of which have passed, Maeztu says, with confidence, that he is going nowhere at least until the first Ikea store opens in India. Over Wild Mushroom Soup and Farm Fresh Vegetable Lasagne, he reckons that could happen two years from now or even four. “I have ambition to stay here longer," he tells me.
The decision to head to India was not an easy one for this Spaniard who has been with Ikea for 14 years. His last posting was in London and when, in November 2011, the vice-president retail, Noel Wijsmans, asked him if he would be willing to work in India, Maeztu turned to his wife and former Ikea colleague, Carmen. “I had never been to India before though I had read about the country. I could not say yes or no without spending time here." In December 2011, he was in India for a week with his wife and on their return journey home, he said to her, “‘It’s Friday. I have to call the vice-president on Monday. What do we say?’ She said ‘I have one million questions but I feel it is right.’ It was the same feeling I had," says Maeztu.
Ikea’s struggle to get a foothold in the Indian market is well documented with law-makers dilly-dallying even now about what the companies, which bring foreign direct investment in single brand retail, should be allowed to do. The company proposes to initially invest ₹ 10,500 crore to open 25 stores here (about ₹ 4,200 crore in the first stage for the first 10 stores and ₹ 6,300 crore in the second for the remaining 15). Currently it is in the process of signing land deals across Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bangalore for the stores as well as finding local manufacturing partners to meet the 30% local sourcing stipulation. “We have to work to lower the price for India in order to meet our concept (a sustainable democratic design) and to be accessible to as many people as possible. That’s why the 30% sourcing aspect is not only because we have to comply with local rules but because we are in India for the long term," he says.
Maeztu, who had the option of heading to another European country after the UK, says India has taught him patience. “It is better to be in a new country where you can build and develop Ikea (than take over operations elsewhere). I was not patient many years back and I also have the drive (to push), but I am learning to be patient. Besides you don’t come to India if you don’t have a 100-year plan. You cannot expect the payback to happen in three years here. If that is what you want, don’t come to India." Perhaps chancing upon the book Conquering The Chaos: Win In India, Win Everywhere, written by Microsoft’s former chairman Ravi Venkatesan, at the Hyderabad airport last year, also strengthened Maeztu’s resolve. “When I read that book, I was so excited. I wanted to meet him and we did meet in Bangalore later. One of things he mentioned was that you need resilience to be in India and explained why it is needed. Keep going, keep going and it will happen. It may take some time, but don’t lower your standards to make it happen." Maeztu believes it is possible to stay true to Ikea standards of doing business if “you commit (to) long-term volume. People will resist complying with your values if they think you are here for the short term. No one wants extra cost but if the commitment, say at least five years to start with, is there, things will change."
Besides land deals, and finding manufacturers who will adhere to Ikea’s standards, Maeztu is part of the group that is laying the foundation for Ikea’s India operation. He has visited about 30 homes across New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to understand what householders want. At a Dwarka residence in New Delhi, during one such visit, he was surprised to learn that even though the family had two bedrooms, the children slept with the parents. “I asked the husband, ‘What happened to the second bedroom?’ He said we keep our temple there. Wow. I think I understood then how hard it was to compromise on beliefs for privacy."
He finds the relationship that Indians have with food very distinctive as well. “Food is important everywhere but I have found that food is 10 times more important here. Many things happen around food here. I would say food is a tool that enables families to develop relationships, start discussions here. Yes, we do have massive knowledge in how to make life in the kitchen much easier but for India we will have to think about some specifics too."
One space close to Maeztu’s heart (after all he does keep an armchair and a stack of his favourite magazines there), which is oft neglected in Indian home, is the loo. “I have seen here that there is a wet area where you wash yourself and then dressing, make-up happens in the bedroom. It should not be like that. In my opinion the bathroom is the most private place where you can be yourself. If you live in a joint family, even your bedroom is not private but your bathroom is. In India however, the bathroom is an untouched space and hence an untapped potential from the business point of view," he says.
An economist by training, Maeztu was a managing director at a retail company in Spain before joining Ikea. “My wife worked there (Ikea) before I did. I attended a few Christmas parties at her office and her boss told me I should join the company a few times. When you have been sleeping with an Ikea employee for four years, you know the good and the bad about the company." The couple worked at Ikea for nine years before his wife took a career break in 2010. “We had an agreement that we will talk as little about Ikea as possible at home. Of course, 0% silence is not possible, so we stuck to only the important work gossip," he says with a laugh.
Also, Carmen always had a different boss to report to. “We did not want her to be associated with me or someone who reported to me because that would be unfair not just to her but to the person in the middle."
He says he is still with Ikea because of the company’s focus on democratic design, quality, sustainability, pricing policy and global reach. “You can do many activities—production, transport design, supply chain management. You can grow here," he says.
How much of the experience of entering the Chinese market in 1998 will be Ikea’s guiding light in India and how much of Maeztu’s own observations add to Ikea’s India experience remains to be seen, but for now, the only mission for this “emotional about India" Spaniard is to learn how to “connect with this society which takes all that is modern and yet keeps the traditional bits of itself alive".
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