Kochouseph Chittilappilly

Kochouseph Chittilappilly
Born 1950
Parappur, Thrissur, Kerala, India
Occupation Businessperson, writer
Known for Business
Philanthropy
Humanism
Spouse(s) Sheila Chittilappilly
Children Arun Chittilappilly
Mithun Chittilappilly
Parent(s) C. O. Thomas
Awards GOI Rashtriya Samman
Millennium Businessman of Kerala
Tourism Man of the Year 2000
Malayala Manorama Newsmaker of the Year 2011
TMA Manager of the Year 2000
ATTOI Tourism Man of the Year 2011
Website kochousephchittilappilly.com

Kochouseph Thomas Chittilappilly is an Indian businessperson, writer,[1] philanthropist and humanist.[2] He is the founder[3] Chairman and Managing Director[4] of V-Guard Industries Ltd[5] and a chain of amusement parks called Wonderla.[6] K. Chittilappilly Foundation, a non profit organization founded by him is engaged in charitable and philanthropic activities.[7] Chittilappilly is a recipient of Rashtriya Samman from the Government of India[8] and Newsmaker of the Year 2011 award from Malayala Manorama.[9] He was booked and arrested in October 2015 for inciting the local village population of Kerala to poison and kill stray dogs, and was held for trying to lead a group called Stray Dogs Eradication Group, but later released on posting bail.[10][11][12]

Biography

Kochouseph Chittilappilly was born to C. O. Thomas in Parappur, a suburb of Thrissur in the south Indian state of Kerala in 1950.[13] His early schooling was at the local church school after which he graduated from Christ College, Irinjalakuda and followed it with a masters degree in Physics from St. Thomas College, Thrissur in 1970.[13] His career kick started in 1973 at Telics, a Thiruvananthapuram based electronics company manufacturing voltage stabilizers and emergency lamps, in the capacity of a supervisor where he worked for three years.[3]

In 1977, he founded V-Guard Industries, a small electronics manufacturing unit for the production of voltage stabilizers with a capital of ₹100,000.[2] The company which had 2 employees at its modest manufacturing facility in Thrissur at inception, grew over the years to become the largest selling stabilizer brand in India.[14] The company claims to have 500 distributors, 3000 dealers, 20,000 retailers and a network of service centres across India[15] supporting a product range composed of Pumps and Motors, Electric and Solar Water Heaters, Wiring Cables, UPS, and Ceiling Fans.[13] The company has an Indian market share of 20 percent in UPS segment, 15 percent in pumps, 12 percent in water heaters and 7 percent in wiring cables segments.[14]

Chittilapilly is reported to have introduced a new business model by total product outsourcing coupled with in-house quality control when his factories were shut down following a workers' strike in the 1980s.[2] Later, diversifying the business, he started the first water theme park in the state of Kerala under the name, Veegaland, in 2000.[13] Another park on a larger scale, Wonderla, was subsequently started in Bengaluru.[13] Veegaland has since been renamed as Wonderla Kochi, in an effort to establish the name as a brand.[16][17]

Chittilapilly is married to Sheila and the couple has two sons Arun Chittilappilly and Mithun Chittilappilly. Sheila is the Managing Director of V-Star Creations, a group company. Arun heads the amusement park business, Wonderla and Mithun is the incumbent Managing Director of V-Guard Industries.[2]

Writing career

Chittilappilly published his first book, Practical Wisdom, in 2005, which is an account of practical management techniques he derived from his personal experiences.[3][18] Two more books in the same series followed, Practical Wisdom 1: In Real Life and Management (2010)[19] and Practical Wisdom 2: In Real Life and Management (2012).[20] In between, he published his autobiographical work, Ormakkilivathil (Down Memory Lane) in 2011[21] which had forewrod written by renowned Malayalam writer, T. Padmanabhan.[22]

Bibliography

Philanthropic and humanitarian activities

K. Chittilapilly Foundation, founded by Kochouseph Chittilapilly, is a non profit organization and serves as the conduit for his philanthropic activities.[23] The foundation, based in Kakkanadu, Kochi, also oversees the activities of Thomas Chittilapilly Trust, another charitable venture of Chittilapilly which is named after his father and runs two institutions, an old age home where elderly people are housed and provided with sustenance and medical care, and Shantimandiram, a home for destitute children where they are provided with shelter, education and food. The institutions are managed by the Sisters of Nirmala Province, a provincialate of catholic nuns located at Kolazhy in Thrissur. It has also instituted an organ donation award for recognising people who come forward for organ donation and to promote organ donation among people. Eleven awards are earmarked for voluntary donations and to the family of donors who suffered brain death and the awards carry cash components ranging from ₹100,000 to ₹500,000 totaling ₹3.7 million every year.[23]

In 2011, Chittilapilly was exposed to the problems related organ donation in India when his son's mother in law contracted a kidney disease and this prompted him to donate his kidney.[13] Associating himself with Davis Chiramel, a catholic priest who donated his kidney in 2009,[24] he started an organ donor programme where one of the family members of the recipient had to donate an organ thereby forming a donor chain.[2] As a part of the programme, Chittilapilly donated one of his kidneys to a truck driver, becoming the first depositor with the Kidney Federation of India (KFI) and is now closely associated with the movement.[4]

Allegations of animal abuse

Chittilappilly directing a mob of villagers to decapitate a dog

From 2014 Chittilappilly started a campaign to kill all street dogs in India for which he has faced a lot of flak from people all over the world. He is known to have offered reward programs to the local people to kill and bring puppies and dogs to him. He has been booked under various animal cruelty laws for inciting the public to kill stray dogs. His efforts have led to eradication of dogs from the entire state of Kerala by means of poisoning and smashing open skulls of all stray puppies and dogs. Despite legal warnings, his arrest and compassionate pleas from people worldwide, till today he continues to advocate killing all puppies found on the street.[10][11][12][25][26] A high impact seminar conducted by the Director of the Humane Society, in Kerala (Chittilappilly's own state) explained why brutally killing dogs is not the solution, and compassion, birth control programs and vaccinations are the way to proceed.[27]

Awards

Chittilapilly is a recipient of Rashtriya Samman from the Government of India for being the highest tax payer in India.[3][16] He was selected as the Malayala Manorama Newsmaker of the year 2011, the year he became an organ donor, the award reaching him in 2012.[9] He is also a recipient of awards such as Millennium Businessman of Kerala from Business Deepika,[3] Tourism Man of the Year 2000 from Destination Kerala,[3] Manager of the Year 2000 from the Travancore Management Association and Tourism Man of the Year 2011 from the Association of Tourism Trade Organisations, India (ATTOI).[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Amazon profile". Amazon. 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Kochouseph Chittilappilly: Founder of V-Guard Industries does 'unconventional' things". Economic Times. 22 May 2011. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Kochouseph Thomas Chittilappilly". Business Week.
  4. 1 2 Shaju Philip (Jan 19, 2011). "Businessman donates kidney to truck driver, sets off chain reaction". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2015.
  5. ↑ M.G. Radhakrishnan (Nov 28, 2008). "Against the current : UNUSUAL ENTREPRENEURS—INNOVATORS". India Today.
  6. ↑ "Founder's profile". V Guard. 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  7. ↑ "K Chittilappilly Foundation". K Chittilappilly Foundation. 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Bloomberg profile". Bloomberg. 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  9. 1 2 "V Guard MD selected as 'Newsmaker of the Year 2011". NDTV. 9 January 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Kerala: Kochouseph Chittilappilly, Jose Maveli booked for hurting stray dogs". International Business Times, India Edition. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  11. 1 2 NYOOOZ. "Animal Activist Flays Chittilappilly". NYOOOZ. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  12. 1 2 "Stray Dogs Are A Menace To The Society -... - The Stray Love Project - Facebook". facebook.com. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Leaders of Kerala profile" (PDF). Leaders of Kerala. 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Stabilising Effect". Value Research Online. 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  15. ↑ "V-Guard Story". V-Guard. 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  16. 1 2 3 "Dakshin Personality of the Month". Dakshin Routes. 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Wonderla Kochi". Wonderla Kochi. 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  18. ↑ Kochouseph Chittilappilly (2005). Practical Wisdom. DC Books. ASIN B007E4Y8NA.
  19. ↑ Kochouseph Chittilappilly (2010). Practical Wisdom 1: In Real Life and Management. Viva Books. p. 250. ISBN 978-8130923987.
  20. ↑ Kochouseph Chittilappilly (2012). Practical Wisdom 2: In Real Life and Management. Viva Books. p. 144. ISBN 978-8130921198.
  21. ↑ Kochouseph Chittilappilly (2011). Ormakkilivathil. DC Books. ISBN 978-8126431243.
  22. ↑ "Indulekha Ormakkilivathil". Indulekha. 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  23. 1 2 "Chittilappilly Foundation declares organ donation awards". Times of India. 12 February 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Father Davis Chiramel – a Priest beyond Preach". Scrollindia. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
  25. ↑ "A humble note to the dog lovers who are... - Kochouseph Chittilappilly - Facebook". facebook.com. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  26. ↑ kochuousephchittilappilly. "CALL TO TACKLE THE STRAY DOG MENACE". Kochouseph Chittilappilly. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  27. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/puducherry/eliminating-stray-dogs-wont-solve-problem/article8161204.ece
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