Ensuring continuity in Auroville’s commercial units

Ranging in activity from restaurants to consulting, fashion, construction and more, Auroville has over 250 commercial units. Many of them have developed a reputation for excellence that extends beyond the community, often becoming a first introduction to Auroville for those far away. The exceptional personalities that the Auroville philosophy attracts have added to the diversity and drive of these units, but as the years pass and the population changes, the importance of fostering solid teams and making long-term plans has become increasingly apparent.

What does it take to build up a business, bring together a strong managerial team, and plan toward continuity well into the future – all within the unique Auroville context? Executives from three major commercial units share their experiences. 

Tanto Trattoria Pizzeria 

Twelve years ago, Daniel started Tanto Trattoria Pizzeria, an Italian restaurant that specializes in pizza and other Italian specialties, in what was formerly called New Creation Corner Restaurant. The pizzeria has had great success over the years, providing a setting for gourmet meals for Aurovilians and attracting crowds of visitors with its authentic Italian food. Today Tanto has been able to expand beyond the original restaurant to three additional locations – on East Coast Road, in Pondicherry, and in the Sri Ma beach community – and has diversified to include a guesthouse and community laundry services. 

Seventy people are now working with Tanto, many of whom are disadvantaged women from the neighbouring villages. Work positions have good scope for advancement and those who begin by washing dishes often go on to become servers and cooks. While the training at Tanto has enabled many cooks to go on to work elsewhere, it has also created a loyal team, of which some have been inspired to join Auroville. There are 12 Aurovilians and two Newcomers in the Tanto team today. Management of each location is divided between Daniel, Sheril (the second executive of Tanto alongside Daniel), and two other Aurovilians. 

After Tanto’s third executive, Paulo, passed away a year ago, Daniel and Sheril have struggled to find someone who could join them in the role of executive and work with the same spirit.

“Here in Auroville, we lack people who want to work for something, and not just for themselves,” says Daniel, who remains reserved as to whether they can find someone who would complement their philosophy and feels that there needs to be a shift in mentality.

Coming from a family with a history of being highly successful in both business entrepreneurship and scientific fields, Daniel has dedicated his own talent to meeting the needs of Auroville and Aurovilians in an income-generating manner. He strongly believes that money is a force: the more he gives, the more he receives. 

This generosity and business farsightedness have borne fruit, and Tanto is consistently one of the highest contributors to Auroville City Services, giving beyond the requisite 33% of business profits. However, they are also careful to reinvest some of their profits into their own business development so that the unit can continue to grow into the future.

Sunlit Future

Sunlit Future has also developed under the leadership of a small team of Aurovilians into a nationally known establishment that has become a leading force in the effort to offer solar energy technologies tailored for both India’s urban and rural populations. Started in 2010 by Rishi, Divya, and Joerg, the company has expanded to about 25 people. Currently, the team includes three Aurovilians, and among their alumni are Debu and Om, who have joined or started other endeavours in Auroville. Most of the team members are young men from the villages surrounding Auroville who have a background in science or engineering and a readiness to learn. They receive apprenticeship-style training at Sunlit Future’s solar installations on how to handle the specialized machinery and then continue to develop their careers there. Sunlit Future also gets two or three German Weltwaerts volunteers every year. Despite being located far from the typical urban hubs where ambitious individuals in this sector tend to work, Sunlit Future does get a few highly qualified individuals who come for short-term projects and bring vital skills to the unit. 

“The main impediment to growing any Auroville business is not the financing but the human resources,” Divya explains. But she observes that Sunlit Future has managed to develop a stable structure and even a middle management team made up of employees who have worked there since its inception. One of the key factors in this was receiving guidance from Sheba, an Aurovilian who facilitates team building and leadership development. Sheba brought the latest human resources techniques, and conducted interviews and evaluations that allowed the team members to identify and valorise their individual qualities. Sunlit Future has proposed a long-term agreement for continued consultancy from Sheba. 

Divya recognizes how important it is to build up the technical, social, communication, and client-interaction skills of the Sunlit Future team, particularly because so many of their employees have grown up in a rural setting where they were not exposed to the important nuances of email, reporting, and documentation. These have had to be honed for the day-to-day functioning of the unit.   

Pondering over why no Auroville unit has become a medium-sized enterprise (as per the Indian classification scheme) and surpassed the Rs. 50 crores turnover mark, Divya’s theory is that it comes down to three factors: firstly, most Aurovilians have not come here with grandiose commercial ambitions; secondly, there is a shortage of appropriately qualified people to push a project forward; and thirdly, the Auroville infrastructure is not fully conducive to the development of an ecosystem in which commercial units can grow. 

Even though Sunlit Future is riding on the wave of the ever-increasing demand for solar technology, they are not able to do this as easily as mainstream commercial companies in larger India. However, despite these systemic roadblocks and lack of human resources, Sunlit Future is able to succeed, particularly because it is not a capital-intensive business. And ultimately, the Auroville identity is often a cachet for potential clients because it indicates a different business ethic and high quality of product. “This is a very important intangible asset that we have as businesses in Auroville and we must keep that high benchmark,” says Divya.

Miniature

In the textile and fashion category, Miniature is a well-known Auroville enterprise that has built up an international reputation for design and quality. Liliana started the unit in 1997, working from her house in Sharnga with two machines and two tailors because she could not find a workshop space. She had worked from the age of 20 in this field, both in Italy and abroad, and had already worked as a designer for Auromode, but she wanted to put her energy into helping Auroville grow. When a friend in Italy asked her to design silk pants, she began her own production unit. With a strong background in design and an innate knack for choosing fabrics and colours, Liliana was capable of single-handedly doing all the tasks she asked her employees to perform, which attracted workers and inspired excellence.

Out of the 47 Miniature team members today, 37 are women. When building her team, Liliana wanted to employ women because she deeply sympathized with the plight of women in the villages, although she has had to compromise and hire men in order to get the needed experience of operating the sewing machines. Those who join are trained in the unit itself and employee retention is good, with one of the first two employees still working with Miniature to this day. Liliana tries to consistently empower her female employees by helping to support their children’s education through school uniforms and books or celebrating International Women’s Day with zeal.

However, despite the workers being loyal employees, none of them have expressed the wish to become Aurovilian and Liliana has struggled to find young people within the Auroville community who are interested and able to contribute to the commercial unit. She recalls one person who had offered to join but who could only come twice a week. “Here, you have to know the job and you have to work,” explains Liliana, who is regularly at work beyond the timings of her employees, especially when traveling for materials. But as she approaches her 77th birthday, Liliana is also realistic about her succession plans. “What would we do if there was not somebody who knows how to oversee and guide the work at Miniature?” However, Liliana feels confident that the diverse client base that they have developed and the competent production team can continue on into the future.

Luckily, Liliana has been joined in more recent years by dedicated managerial team members. Ambra joined Miniature seven years back when she returned to Auroville. She has become a key member in overseeing the daily work. Kumar has been in Auroville for 25 years and with Miniature for 12 years. He primarily oversees accounts and administrative tasks, and provides a vital link to the team members. “What I appreciate is the freedom I have in Miniature to take decisions,” he says. And this autonomy has allowed this managerial team to grow and solidify.

What is there to learn?

Business continuity in the outside world can involve very high stakes – there may be shareholders, highly paid executives, or thousands of employees within a complex organisational structure. But Auroville cannot be viewed through this same lens. Economic attainment is important to Auroville’s growth and the livelihoods of all those who work within Auroville, but comparatively more weight is given to the individual journey of working rather than the financial effects. There is a more holistic approach to commerce here, in line with the Auroville ethos, and it seems that its commercial units are doing their best to deal with all the attendant successes and challenges.

Recently, Margarita of the Auroville Board of Commerce and Torkil of the Integral Entrepreneurship Lab have developed a toolkit for those seeking to start a new commercial unit in Auroville. It guides entrepreneurs through the steps of evaluating the opportunities in Auroville, developing their business plan, and registering their unit or activity. This is particularly important as Auroville has a unique structure that does not mirror mainstream businesses, largely due to the fact that all assets and businesses in Auroville are communally owned and economic activity is performed for the communal benefit rather than for personal gain. As striking out on a new project has become far more formalised in recent years and can appear opaque to those not already involved in a managerial capacity in an Auroville unit, this toolkit will be an essential tool in stimulating economic and commercial self sufficiency.