Hyderabad: Sachin Tendulkar will no longer be hitting boundaries in an international cricket match and even though he loves other sports, there is hardly any chance that he can be a professional footballer or tennis player at his age. But that doesn’t mean he can’t buy the team that will do it for him.
Currently, Sachin Tendulkar is the co-owner of the Kochi franchise in the Indian Super League, the Mumbai franchise of the International Tennis Premier League, Indian Badminton League and is the celebrity face for the Universal Collectabillia, a celeb merchandise and brand extension firm.
While his transition to a full-time businessman from a world-class cricketer has been smooth, the Master Blaster certainly had some help from his Hyderabadi friends.
All the associations mentioned are with Hyderabad based entrepreneurs , Anjana Reddy of Universal Collectabillia, PVP Ventures, which co-owns the above mentioned leagues and V. Chamundeshwarnath, also known as Chamundi, one of the three co-owners of IBL. Is this a case that points to friends becoming good business partners?
“Whether a friend or a business associate, he takes keen interest in sports’ related activities. This has got nothing to do with what region you are from or his relation with you. He’s very straight forward. So on Day 1, you’ll have a meeting with him and his legal team who will discuss the business with you and how it will go forward,” says Chamundi, who says that PVP was introduced to Sachin through him during an IPL match.
“Sachin is always game for such ventures. He loves sports; he tries to attend Wimbledon in London every year,” adds Chamundi.
Potluri Prasad, chairman and managing director of PVP Ventures Limited, feels that it was the focused approach of his business that helped him gain Sachin’s trust.
“We aren’t a venture that has 10 different interests or we aren’t here to make a quick buck. We aim for overall development and this is evident by the output that our enterprise has produced so far,” says the entrepreneur, philanthropist and educationalist.
Anjana Reddy started her company, Collectabillia in 2011 with Sachin Tendulkar as the firm’s ‘celebrity face’.
“He was the first one on the roster and he has always been professional. The company is based out of Bengaluru, so his chances of an increased presence in Hyderabad are slim. He was present at a Collectabillia event in Mumbai, we look forward to having such events in the city, though nothing has been planned as of now,” says Anjana.
