MBD Group celebrates 76th Founder’s Day

An educationist, hospitality genius, changemaker, empowerment champion, philanthropist, advocate of girl child education and a legend having a heart of gold, Malhotra’s name evokes trust, confidence, humility and service in the MBD brand. Every year, this day is celebrated by employees as a day of reaffirmation and rededication to the vision and mission of the founder. Like last year, the event this year went virtual owing to the pandemic. But that could in no way dampen the celebratory mood and spirit of well-wishers, patrons, employees and management of MBD Group who attended the event online with optimism and cheer.

Malhotra knew the power of education as a tool of change and empowerment. His life was a journal of the change he wanted to see. He knew the task was enormous, and so he started young from Jalandhar, Punjab, in 1956 in his early teens and undaunted at the age of 13 self-published and authored a book called General Education. But he did not stop with education. From books and printing press and eLearning to hospitality, retail and design and construction in India and abroad — he dreamt new dreams and worked hard to realise them. As he achieved more, he also desired to give more. He believed in sharing his fortune with his MBD team and also society at large. It was his firm belief that the will to help others would always create a path of positive results.

Last year, when students had to stay home and teaching/learning as we knew it changed, MBD Group launched the AASOKA App, which makes available to students high quality study material in the form of eBooks, audio lessons, video lessons and online assessments and assignments that help them focus on studies in a constructive and interesting manner. Also, ALTS (Aasoka Learning and Teaching Solutions) was developed for schools. It is a cloud-based platform catering to all academic, administrative, learning and teaching needs of schools with curriculums of CBSE, ICSE/ISC and various state boards.

“In the past year, we have been able to rise to the challenge of providing new solutions for students and teachers in the form of ALTS & AASOKA. With these two products we foresee a bright future of MBD Family in the EdTech space,” said Monica Malhotra Kandhari, managing director, MBD Group.

MBD Group’s hospitality ventures MBD Steigenberger and MBD Express spread across North, West and South India have been marching forward with aplomb. “We offer warm Indian hospitality and world-class service — an exemplary fusion of regional splendour and modern luxury. Our luxury hospitality brand MBD Steigenberger — with 250 keys in Mumbai, 320 keys in Bangalore and 36 keys in Ranthambore already signed up — is looking to enter key markets in India. Our latest entrant, MBD Express with 950 keys already signed up, a unique concept offering experiential hospitality to guests in mid-market segment, has signed projects in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Goa and is looking to enter all aspirational markets in India,” said Sonica Malhotra, joint managing, director, MBD Group.

The MBD Group is guided by its founder’s core values of integrity, compassion and courage. Continuing with this tradition of generosity and kindness, Satish Bala Malhotra, chairperson, MBD Group, has been investing resources towards the well-being of the employees.

“We have nearly doubled the Medical Insurance Cover for our employees so that they are protected and no one is deprived of care and cure for the want of support or resources; and we will also provide financial and emotional support to bereaved families of our employees who lost the battle with Covid. We have made available free digital resources and online teacher training to schools to ensure learning and teaching continues seamlessly,” said Malhotra, Chairperson, MBD Group.

Even during the toughest period of the pandemic, MBD Group continued to move forward. As operations went into WFH mode, service and business deliveries continued seamlessly. Deadlines were not missed. The extraordinary courage and resilience of MBDians (that’s how MBD employees refer to themselves) was honoured by conferring on them the MBD Hero award, which celebrates the sparks of greatness in employees who continued to do the right thing in spite of the challenges.

Appreciating MBDians for their courage and determination Satish Bala Malhotra said, “We have emerged stronger from a challenge unique and unparalleled in recent memory. We learnt from mistakes — ours and others — and observed, analysed, innovated, improvised, initiated course-correction, took ownership and risks and did everything humanly possible and more to keep operations moving. And we kept moving. Because that’s what life is.”

Today MBD Group has interests in publishing, hospitality, malls, realty, design and construction, printing, edtech, paper manufacturing, notebooks, skill development, capacity building, exports, food and beverage, residences and commercial office space in India and abroad.