Once sold balloons on streets of India, later built business empire worth Rs 59,334 crore, Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar were his...., he was...
KM Mammen Mappillai founded MRF in Madras in the year 1946 when he started a small toy balloon manufacturing unit. However, with years of hard work and passion, he transformed MRF into a global brand. How MRF was founded!
Mammen's actual success journey started in the year 1952 when he identified an opportunity in tyre retreading. For those unversed, tyre retreading is a process where the tread area of used tyres is refurbished, which led to a significant change in the entrepreneurial journey of Mammen.
Taking inspiration from the concept, Mammen invested his earnings from the balloon business into manufacturing tread rubber, which ultimately made MRF the first Indian company to manufacture tread rubber. Biggest milestone in life of Mammen
The biggest milestone in the life of Mammen and MRF came when MRF's first tyre factory was inaugurated by then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. As a result of the immense success that the company was showing, MRF launched its IPO, entering the Indian stock market with a boom. As years passed by, MRF became a symbol of success and today, it is India's largest tyre manufacturer with a market capitalization of Rs 55,417 crore.
Additionally, MRF also has a long-standing association with cricket. Earlier, Indian cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar, often called the 'God of Cricket' was its brand ambassador and as of today, former Indian captain Virat Kohli is its current brand ambassador.
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