Keep-fit Buff, Restaurateur, Investor, Entrepreneur | Ashish Palande

Wrestling with legacy and forging ahead

A person born into a family business is a person born into a story; the one that’s ongoing and generations old.  Like any good story, there are heroes; parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, whose legacy mythologized over time casts a long shadow.  This shadow weighs heavy on the next generation and even the most resilient successor can be crushed by the pressure. Ashish has succeeded his father Yashwant Palande, an iconic entrepreneur who founded a courier company called Palande Courier in 1968.

Every city has several iconic brands whose identity is tightly fused with the city’s identity; for example, Karachi Bakery and Hyderabad; or Nalli Sarees and Chennai. Chitale Bandhu, PNG, Kayani, and of course Palande Courier, take pride in similar synonymy with Pune. In times when India Post was the only available option, Palande Courier was one of the pioneers of the courier industry in India. Like the India Post, Palande Courier too was famed to deliver parcels into the deep interiors of Maharashtra.

Succeeding a celebrated founder like his father and carrying the legacy of Palade Courier forward into a lot more competitive era was not an easy challenge for Ashish to deal with. Everyone had very high expectations and the tendency to compare Ashish with an imposing personality like his father was almost a routine. While Ashish often found this onerous, he decided to use the legacy as leverage for collective good, rather than letting it become a liability that keeps the organization entrenched in tradition. Post his early education in India, Ashish went on to pursue his Masters in Business Administration from Victoria University-Australia. Additionally he completed Diploma in Foreign Trade from Symbiosis-Pune. Ashish regularly attends conferences and engages the best of consultants to seek ongoing professional advice.

The definition and yardsticks of success of next generation leaders have evolved over the years. Next generation leadership is about leading in the most turbulent of times, and successful next generation leaders need to be masters of change and resilience. With the strong legacy inherited from his father, Ashish had to balance the need to ‘be different’ with the need to ‘protect the legacy’. This was bound to be a tightrope walk.

With Ashish at the helm, Palande Courier pioneered the franchise business model in courier industry in India. They appointed their first franchisee in 1983. Ashish offered an opportunity to their employees to create wealth by offering them franchise. Many of them encashed the opportunity and now own cars and houses. Providing such life changing and wealth creation opportunities to people has always been Ashish’s conscious endeavour. Under his aegis, the company expanded its service portfolio horizontally and vertically by offering a wide range of services. They now offer domestic and international courier services, door to door cargo, air freight, sea freight, full container & part container movement, and so on. They also made some related diversifications into Import & Export and Bank Support Services.

With great change comes great opportunity. As the world cocooned itself while the pandemic swept the world, Ashish went on his front foot. He launched their Packers and Movers division during the first pandemic lockdown in 2020 when he foresaw the possibility of a huge human migration. They also launched a new company called Palande Food Delivery offering food delivery services. The company began by delivering food from popular restaurants in Pune to consumers and to COVID-19 patients across various hospitals in Pune. He further enhanced his business model by delivering food for chefs, tiffin services, pet food delivery etc on a subscription basis.

In May 2022, Ashish ‘accepted’ an unrelated diversification. His tenant was running a restaurant called Vrundavan Veg. Owing to poor response due to COVID and inability to fund the restaurant further, the tenant decided not to continue the business. Though Ashish had no prior experience in the food industry, he was bullish on the future of his newfound opportunity. He took up the challenge and surmounted umpteen difficulties to finally turn the business around. He is now a proud restaurateur who seeks immense fulfilment from the satisfaction he sees on the faces of his customers.

Ashish is a proud recipient of several awards including ‘Entrepreneurs’ International – Excellence in Entrepreneurship in Service Industry’ award. Ashish is a keep-fit buff and follows a strict regimen. He loves tennis, badminton, cycling, trekking, and wildlifing. Ashish reads a lot and is in constant quest for knowledge. While Ashish has done his best in creating entrepreneurs and nurturing other’s businesses (his investees and mentees), he also takes immense pleasure in nurturing his garden. To sow seeds & saplings and see them grow into healthy plants fills him with joy and fulfilment. Isn’t this what entrepreneurs do best with their creations too?

Having successfully completed close to 54 years of glorious journey, the Palande group of businesses is growing from strength to strength. Ashish has successfully bore the mantle for over two decades and is now preparing his twin sons to carry their golden legacy ahead.

Website : www.palandecourier.com
Email : ashish@palandecourier.com