Balancing Old Wisdom with New Ambition: Aiman Khorakiwala’s Modern CEO Perspective

Send us a textHost Sohin Shah interviews Aiman Khorakiwala, CEO of InGene Organics and leader at Akbarally’s, a century-old retail institution in Mumbai. Aiman discusses her journey growing up in a business family rooted in retail and pharma, her unexpected entry into the family business, and her evolution as a leader.Aiman explains how she initially believed that a great product alone would drive success, but learned through experience that distribution, education, communication, people, and processes matter far more. She shares how InGene Organics pioneered seaweed-based biostimulants in the 1980s and how educating farmers has been central to their work.She reflects on being a woman and minority in Indian agribusiness, the pressures of generational expectations, and the challenges women face balancing parenting, ambition, and societal expectations. Aiman describes how scuba diving shaped her listening-oriented leadership style, and how working alongside her father has taught her about trust, delegation, and generational differences in business philosophy.She opens up about the practices that keep her grounded—her disciplined morning routine, meditation through the Art of Living, and a long-standing spiritual journey. The conversation also covers strategic clarity, long-term thinking, hiring principles, navigating competition, customer centricity (influenced by Harvard OPM), and measuring decisions by the objectivity of numbers.Here are the Top 10 Takeaways from the conversation:1. A great product is never enough.Aiman learned that innovation doesn’t sell itself—real success requires distribution, processes, education, communication, and trust within the value chain.2. Farmer education is crucial in India.Their biostimulant product boosts yields 10–15%, but adoption requires demonstration, financial explanation, and peer validation among farmers.3. Customer centricity must be deliberate.OPM at Harvard sharpened her understanding that customers exist at multiple points in the value chain, not just at the final end-user.4. Strategic clarity filters noise.Aiman anchors decisions to a predefined yearly and 3-year strategy, making resource allocation and prioritization far more disciplined.5. Leadership benefits from silence and listening.Scuba diving taught her patience—underwater silence translates into being the last to speak in meetings and fostering genuine team buy-in.6. Being a woman in agribusiness can become an advantage.While early in her career she faced dismissiveness from men, with age and experience she finds being a woman gives her visibility and a unique voice in the space.7. Delegation and empowerment drive performance.Her father’s influence taught her to trust people and delegate meaningfully, which allowed her companies to run smoothly even while she was away at OPM.8. Integrity is a non-negotiable in hiring and partnerships.Skills and experience matter, but without integrity nothing else is usable—a principle passed down from her father.9. Personal routines fuel better decisions.Daily workouts, the Art of Living Kriya, and a morning connection ritual with her husband help keep her centered, clear-minded, and emotionally balanced.10. Patience is built into agriculture—and entrepreneurship.Just as crops take months, businesses take years. Success requires long-term thinking, strengthening soil (people, processes, products), and resisting short-term distractions. Books: The Psychology of Money

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