This new MS Group company is moving ahead with young vigour and aspiration to provide top quality products to the millennial consumers.
Millenia Global, a young Nepali trading company, is moving forward and expanding its market portfolio by providing various branded goods to the Nepali consumers at sustainable and affordable prices. Retaining the legacy of MS Group, one of the leading business conglomerates of the country, Millenia Global is doing quite well in delivering well-known international brands to the Nepali market since its inception in April 2018.
The company with its enthusiastic associates has emerged with a new system embracing the values of the MS Group. “Our six month’s journey has been admirable. We hope the next six months will be even better,” shares Umang Agarwal, Managing Director of Millenia Global.
The company has a vision of supplying high-end brands and meeting the consumers’ demands at the lowest cost possible. Agarwal says, “We are glad that the customers are accepting our products and they are satisfied as well.” He adds, “We want to develop a repeat purchase culture in the customers. Our company’s main duty starts after the sale of the products. We believe that our attempt to win the hearts of customers will be successful only when the same customer purchases our products for the second time or repeatedly.”
According to Agarwal, the company has been adhering to the rules and regulations of the government and says, “Besides local and national rules, we are also trying to comply with the international occupational health and safety hazards. We are giving platforms in our company even to those who have returned from abroad.” Millenia Global recently received the ISO 9001: 2015 certification, the latest International Management Standards certification, from ISO DAV Germany.
Journey from MS Group to Millenia Global
Agarwal who always had a strong desire to reach out to all types of products at each shop of the country right from his childhood was able to transpire his dream after his post-graduation. “Since my childhood, whenever I used to visit Nepali supermarkets and shops, I always desired to see my products in each and every shop. This is still my motto. I had seen how my grandfather, uncle and father turned a small cloth trading shop into one of the largest business houses in Nepal. I was taught how the business of MS Group was diversified as a steel to sugar conglomerate,” he says.
After obtaining his master’s degree in business management from Imperial College, London Agarwal returned to Nepal and studied the Nepali society, customers’ behaviour, their capacity, the domestic market and also the varieties of systems followed by other top companies. He also researched business viability of products and brands before starting Millenia Global. His uncle Shashi Kant Agarwal, chairman of MS Group, was the source of inspiration for him to conduct the research and market study. He has always been a true believer of that fact that- in order to obtain success; luck needs to be coupled with hard work.
“I returned to Nepal from the UK after learning different ideas and tricks for collaborating with different companies. Then, I started building the framework of Millenia Global. In the beginning, I was very nervous because on one hand I had to maintain the legacy that my previous generations had sketched down for me and on the other, I was going to do something completely new. I am very fortunate to be a part of MS Group.”
Products and Services
Millenia Global has partnered with many companies for different segments from food and beverage to electronics. At present, it has three major segments- food and beverages, electronics and stationery. According to Agarwal, Millenia Global has partnered with over 15 companies (brands). For the Food and Beverage segment, it has collaborated with Del Monte that provides a wide array of culinary sauces, pasta, juices, olive oil, etc. Similarly, it has also partnered with ConAgra Foods that has brands like Act II popcorn, Act II Nachoz and Sundrop oil under it.
In the Electronics segment, the company is providing small domestic home appliances, big domestic home appliances and consumer electronics. It has partnered with Eveready Appliances and Nikai in this respective segment. “We are providing services along with our products. We are going to introduce our own brand of Millenia Pressure Cooker; which will be manufactured by us and make way to enter the houses of Nepal.
Stationery segment is another exciting segment of Millenia Global. They have partnered with different international stationary companies including Navneet Education India, Flair Group, Reynolds and Pierre Cardin. The company provides a wide range of stationery products including notebooks, pens, pencil, eraser, etc.
Millenia Global is going to launch two new segments - home and personal care and hosiery soon. Agarwal shares, “We are also planning a segment which has not been explored vastly by international brands and are looking into entering it. We are stoked to see how well it works in the market.”
Market Presence
Millenia Global is growing vigorously in the market. It is expanding its market to new cities from supermarkets to small retails. “Our market demand is growing more than we had ever expected. We have made a lot of effort in promoting the brands we have partnered with.
We are expanding our market not only with quality products at affordable costs but also with strong commitment to our dealers. Since Nepal has all the possible international brands today, it has been a bit tough for us to create our own space in the market. We have a vision for our distribution network to be spread from Mechi to the Mahakali.”
Area of Coverage
Millenia Global at present has its network in the top ten tier cities of Nepal including Butwal, Narayanghat, Birjung, Bhairahawa, Kathmandu, Pokhara, Nepalgunj and Biratnagar. “Our product quality is fantastic. I believe that products sell not because of its marketing but because of its quality.”
Target Customers
As the name suggests, the target customers of Millenia Global are the millennial. Agarwal explains, “Millenia comes from two words- ‘Millennial’, or the young generation and ‘Millennium’, a period of a thousand years. So, millennials are our main target customers. However, we are not limited to a certain age group only.
I think in today’s fast paced world, no company can sustain if it is only focused on one target group. This is even truer for a country like Nepal with a population of just 26 to 30 million.” He further adds that to the reason why they are trying to cater to each and every age group of the society. “For instance, we distribute the Sundrop brand oil which is targeted mostly towards cholesterol and heart patients. Likewise, instead of using only vibrant colours on the cover of Navneet notebook, we try to address different age groups through informative descriptions on its cover like various wonders of the world.”
Challenges
Agarwal has overcome many challenges from small admin issue to other big issues. “MS Group is focused on more business to business segments like steel, textile, sugar etc. But for Millenia Global, I needed a strong and vast distribution network. Beside this, an entire business model was also created for the company. Nevertheless, all these challenges were successfully tackled,” shares Agarwal.
Plans
For trading companies like Millenia Global, distribution network is very crucial. Millenia Global has drafted a two-year, five-year and a ten-year plan and it is moving ahead accordingly. Agarwal says, “Our two-year plan includes expansion of the distribution network for each of our segments across the nation.
Our five-year plan includes expanding our respective distribution channels outside Nepal. Beside this, we are looking at changing the international trade models into joint venture manufacturing with many potential international companies we have partnered with. We are huge supporters of local manufacturing. We have partnered with numerous companies and we want to change these viable partnerships to joint ventures.”
