Meet Shantanu Naidu, Ratan Tata’s Friend Who Considered the Man His ‘Lighthouse'

Shantanu Naidu works as the Deputy General Manager of Tata Trusts and holds an MBA from Cornell University.

Ratan Tata and Shantanu Naidu.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

A day after Indian tycoon Ratan Tata's demise, Shantanu Naidu penned a note on LinkedIn, mourning the loss of his friend.

"The hole that this friendship has now left with me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to fill. Grief is the price to pay for love. Goodbye, my dear lighthouse," Naidu wrote on 10 October.

In 2021, Naidu became a topic of social media curiosity when he was seen in a video with Ratan Tata on his 84th birthday.

So, who is he? Shantanu Naidu, who is now the Deputy General Manager of Tata Trusts, shared a mentor-mentee relationship with Ratan Tata exemplified by their mutual commitment to innovation.

A fifth-generation Tata employee, Naidu first started working at the company as an engineering intern in 2009. He then joined design company Tata Elxsi in Pune in 2014 as a Design Engineer after completing his Bachelor of Engineering degree from Savitribai Phule University. He later pursued an MBA from Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management and won the Hemmeter Entrepreneurship Award and the Johnson Leadership Case Competition during his time there.

How a Startup and a Love for Animals Led to a Long Partnership

Naidu is also the founder of a startup called 'Motopaws' that makes glow-in-the-dark collars for animals to ensure that they're safe on the streets at night. According to their website, 'a group of young millennials' took this initiative because they were perturbed by the 'rising number of road kills of dogs in the city of Pune'.

The wunderkind joined Tata Trusts in 2018, and according to the Motopaws website, he assisted Ratan Tata with "venture capital and mentoring startups."

He was first introduced to him after he wrote him a letter about Motopaws, and spoke about how his initiative didn't have enough funding. He had ended the letter with a simple note: 'Someday, I would very much like to see you, Mr Tata.’

Impressed by Naidu's dedication and commitment to protect animals, Ratan Tata, who himself was an animal lover, helped kickstart the organisation's funding. "Animal welfare is an area which I am very passionate about. It would be a pleasure meeting you for discussions on this subject," he wrote back.

Ratan Tata and Shantanu Naidu.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

His kind-hearted initiative and finance-driven strategies are a rare combination, one that even caught the eye of Ratan Tata, who then took Naidu under his wing.

It was during his work with Ratan Tata that Naidu realised how hesitant India's youth is when it comes to embracing the startup culture.

"Shantanu realised the immense fear and lack of direction young students in India faced in entrepreneurship," reads an excerpt from the Motopaws website.

Naidu decided to help with this by starting 'On Your Sparks' – an initiative where he hosts webinars for youngsters and gives them tips on how to begin their startup journey. Through motivational stories and real-life incidents, he aims to shape India's startup culture for the youth.

The proceeds from this new initiative go directly into Motopaws which has grown into an international venture.

Naidu, who has also authored a book, I Came Upon a Lighthouse, touches upon the relationship he shared with the business mogul. Naidu speaks of Ratan Tata both as a businessman and as his friend. Of all that is known of their work together, their shared love for innovation and social service stands out. But if something was to summarise their true relationship, it would be the last few words of Naidu's book:

"It is not possible to forget the day when I came across this guiding light of a person, shining unapologetically with undiluted affection and empathy for the entire world. That fated day when I unknowingly entered a tiny piece of history. That fated day when I came upon a lighthouse."