From a coolie on Chennai port to building a Rs 2500 cr empire; the story of MG Muthu

"Where there is a will, there is a way" is the formula that a lot of successful entrepreneurs and professional follow and that is how they climb the ladder up. Sometimes it is essential to take a huge leap of faith and move forward and that is exactly what MG Muthu, founder of the MGM group has employed in his lifestyle. In spite of his hardships and the lack of resources for education, he ensured he never gave up irrespective of any trouble that came his way.

MG Muthu comes from a poor family and attending school was a dream for him. Starting off to work as a coolie on a ship harbor in 1957, he did loading and unloading of heavy bags from the ships. His father was in the same profession and soon enough, lifting up cargo became a part of his routine. There were a lot of days in his life where his family could not even get a simple meal and he would sleep on an empty stomach. Looking at children going to school in his village, he decided to join too. But fighting hunger and seeking education together has become too much for him and he quit school in a few days. With him and his father working as coolies, they could afford a little more food from the rich landowners.

With an immense amount of hard work, lifting up huge sacks of cargo on his back on the port of Chennai (The then Madras), he did manage to save up some amount of money. With those savings, he ventured into a small scale logistics business after he had developed decent relationships with the people in that sector. Though the business had small vendors and, Muthu always relied on delivering excellent customer satisfaction and that alone made him what he is today. He always ensured that his customers never had anything to complain about. He started to deliver more than expected and did early deliveries of goods. Word got out and people started to know his name all over Madras. He then scaled up to bigger clients and vendors. Very soon, what started as a small business turned out to be a huge empire, which he named it 'The MGM Group'.

MGM group is a leading logistics company in India today and MG Muthu is a well-known face in the corporate world. With this success, he had ventured into coal and mineral mining business, food chains and hospitality sector. Muthu also owns hotels, based in various countries. According to a report by Kenfolios, The MGM Group has acquired a Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh based drinks company recently, manufacturing many variety of liquor, gradually expanding itself in the state of Karnataka too. Apart from that, Muthu also owns the Indian franchise of Marry Brown, the famous fast food restaurant from Malaysia.

MGM group now owns a boutique business hotel in Whitefield, Bengaluru and the current Managing Director of the MGM group told The News Service, "It was impossible to resist the attractive opportunities offered by Bengaluru in the hospitality segment."

It is quite fascinating to witness the story of someone who has gone from rags to riches just with the traits of honesty, hard work and extreme simplicity. MG Muthu's story is definitely an inspiration and an excellent case study for the aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to make it big.

Do you have an interesting story to share? Please write to us at [email protected]. To stay updated with more positive news, please connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.