Sathish Kumar T

Saddened to hear about the passing of Padma Shri Chef Damu. He made remarkable contribution to the culinary world, bringing the art closer to millions of households and inspiring young chefs. My heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, admirers. May his soul rest in peace.

3/3 There is tremendous talent in our smaller towns and villages. I would love to see more businesses that allow young people to learn, earn and build their future closer to home. To me, that is an opportunity worth building for.

2/3 I would look for a problem worth solving. Food and nutrition. Agriculture. Solar and sustainable energy. Water and waste. And especially ideas that can create meaningful opportunities for young people in our villages. That is where I would start looking.

1/3 Someone recently asked me: If you were 25 again, would you take up a job or start a business? It got me thinking. I think I would still choose to build something of my own. But the next question is more interesting: what would I build today?

Convenience does not always have to mean compromising on what we eat.

3/3 “What can I quickly eat?” is becoming a common question in our busy lives. Interesting part is that people don’t just want quick anymore. They want nutritious & satisfying too. For food industry, this a good challenge to solve: how do we make better food easier to choose?

2/3 Think about everything you ate yesterday that wasn’t breakfast, lunch or dinner. A yoghurt between meetings? Something after a workout? A quick bite before heading home? These little eating moments are becoming a bigger part of our everyday lives. What did you reach for?

1/3 We usually ask, “What product should we make next?” I think there is another question food companies should be asking: “When will the consumer have it?”

In business, which is harder: knowing when to start or knowing when to stop?

I think this shift is important. There was a time when the front of the pack did most of the talking. Consumers now turn packs around to inspect ingredients, nutrition & what they are paying for. I see this as a positive development for the food industry. economictimes.indiatimes.com…

A good plan should answer two questions: What do we do if things go as expected? What do we do if they don't? The second question is often more important.

A dairy business cannot function without refrigeration. But maintaining the cold chain also comes with a responsibility to manage our environmental impact. Our recent ISO 14001:2015 certification at @MilkyMistIndia is a step in strengthening that commitment. #WorldOzoneDay

Farmers understand better than most businesses that a plan cannot depend on everything going right. Weather may change. Costs may change. Yield may change. Good planning is also knowing what to do when your assumptions change.Something every business can learn from agriculture.

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life.” -Swami Vivekananda In many ways, this is how Milky Mist Dairy @MilkyMistIndia was born. It started with one idea, a belief in what it could become and the determination to stay with it through every challenge.

Every generation defines independence differently. Our grandparents strived for freedom, parents for opportunity. For me, independence is building world-class manufacturing & quality for India! Happy Independence Day! 🇮🇳

While geographies may differ, many of the challenges shaping the dairy industry are familiar across markets. This McKinsey report - mckinsey.com/industries/agri… - highlights key priorities for 2026, from protecting margins and improving productivity to investing in AI, innovation and talent. One interesting takeaway: sustainability remains a key focus in Europe, while US dairy businesses are placing greater emphasis on productivity and growth. For me, this reinforces an important point. Long-term competitiveness will depend on balancing growth with operational discipline, sustainability and continuous innovation.

India has the potential to become a trusted global food manufacturing hub. But global leadership will not be built on scale alone. It will be built on consistency. Global markets expect the same quality, safety and reliability in every shipment. At @MilkyMistIndia, this is why we invest heavily in systems, technology, quality assurance and cold chain infrastructure. In food manufacturing, we are not just exporting products. We are exporting trust.

The market rarely changes overnight. Small signals, observed consistently, tell the bigger story.

For most consumers, the monsoon brings relief from the summer heat. For those involved in food manufacturing, it is also a season that tests the resilience of systems. In agriculture-linked industries like dairy, seasonal variability influences everything, from milk procurement and transportation to cold chain management and production planning. Over the years, one lesson has become increasingly clear: resilience cannot be built during disruptions. It has to be designed into the system long before disruptions occur. This means investing in: • Strong farmer relationships and local sourcing networks • Robust cold chain and logistics infrastructure • Data-led demand forecasting and inventory planning • Flexible operations that can adapt to changing conditions As climate patterns become less predictable, building resilient supply chains will no longer be a competitive advantage. It will become a necessity for every food business.

Strong institutions outlast individuals. They endure because they are built on values, strengthened by systems and sustained by people who uphold them every day. A thought worth reflecting on this Nelson Mandela Day.