The opposite of a vicious cycle is the virtuous cycle, and a remarkable example of that is Singapore-based Indian-origin businessman Veeru Murugappan’s life and work — one good thing leading to another in an upward spiral, driven by a desire to take things to the next level.
“I am the black sheep of the family,” he quips, when asked about his professional independence, as a filmmaker, from his family business, the multi-sector conglomerate that is the Tamil Nadu-headquartered Murugappa Group, worth nearly USD 10 billion.
Not so much, really. Unlike the proverbial black sheep, 38-year-old Veeru fits perfectly well into the scheme of things when it comes to the Group’s philanthropic arm, the AMM Foundation, and its offshoot, the Murugappa Youth Football Academy (MYFA).
It is Veeru’s vision and determination, along with the whole-hearted endeavour of the MYFA team, that have now scored the win of a lifetime for the teenage boys who go to the football academy.
Within less than three years of the academy’s partnership arrangement with the German football club Borussia Dortmund (aka “BVB”) — under this deal, the German club’s own academy gives comprehensive guidance and on-site training to MYFA coaches and students — Veeru and his team have pulled off a trip to Germany for a group of boys whose economically disadvantaged families probably never saw the inside of an airport before.
This triumphant global exposure takes forward the MYFA mission of changing lives through football, he says in an interview with Sanchita Guha, Consulting Editor, Connected to India.
“In this whole partnership, the only thing that was missing was our kids going to Germany. Many people felt this was not going to be possible, because most of the kids never had passports,” he tells this website.
Outlining the hurdles, he says, “When we applied for the kids’ passports, we needed the parents’ information, and in this case, many of the parents also had no passports. The documentation takes a lot of time. In the course of the past two-three years, many people told me, ‘Veeru, this part of the partnership, we think it’s better to just let it go, because it may not be possible to take these children there.’ It’s difficult getting visas for four-five people; it’s tough.”
Some of the MYFA coaches, including head coach S Vijayakumar, have been to Germany to see BVB up close, but even with that travel record, visa approvals are never certain.
So, getting a Schengen visa for a Germany trip at the first attempt, for a bunch of underage people who have never travelled abroad, was the proverbial Herculean task.
Veeru was advised that a German team be brought to India, rather than an Indian team being taken to Germany. “I said, ‘No, but why? Why can’t these boys go?’ If you don’t apply, you’ll never know,” he says.
With some help from government bodies in India and Germany — and the persistence of the whole MYFA team and also the larger AMM Foundation team — the visas came through. And from then on, it was literally dreams taking flight.
The ultimate experience
In a related LinkedIn post a couple of weeks ago, Veeru wrote: “These kids come from some of the most difficult backgrounds and while at times, the dream did seem far-fetched, we kept at it. Recently, the stars aligned, and our players got the ultimate experience of working with and learning from the coaches in Dortmund.
“Be it a first passport, a first international flight, high-intensity training sessions at the BVB Football Academy, matches against youth teams, and various cultural experiences, the boys certainly had the time of their lives.
“More so, they also got the chance to watch a UEFA Champions League game where BVB took on Athletic Club (Bilbao), and then days later, a Bundesliga International GmbH match against RB Leipzig at the iconic Signal Iduna Park stadium. To top it off, former BVB midfielder Antônio da Silva also dropped by to catch up with the boys and share some valuable insights.”
The virtuous cycle has been expanding, as the pact with the German club enabled MYFA to bring to India a young team from the Australian club Wynnum Wolves earlier this year.
When the Indian side met the Australians at a partnership workshop, for once, cricket was set aside and football took the centre-stage. “There was a strong sense of community for them as well. And we just felt that their objectives and our objectives, their values and our values, were aligned,” says Veeru.
This visit changed lives both ways — not just for the Indian boys, but also for the Australian boys. “Football is football, but the cultural side of this [visit] is unreal,” says Richard Greer, Football/Sporting Director, Wynnum Wolves FC, in a video of that milestone trip.
Love for the media
All of these achievements of MYFA have their source in one tiny seed: Veeru’s love for the media.
A fifth-generation member of one of the most illustrious business families in India — the Murugappa Group has been here for 125 years; and its charitable arm for 100+ years — Veeru came to this point down a road that started with a job in television. There was a bit of “concern and apprehension” among the family elders about his choice of a career completely outside the spectrum of the Group’s businesses.
However, this was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, rather the result of his natural inclination. “Right from a young age, I was always passionate about news. The 9pm news was the Holy Grail,” recalls Veeru, who counts Indian television legend Prannoy Roy as his “superboss” in his first job at NDTV.
The meandering stream of media production brought him to the Singapore office of IMG, the global sports, fashion, events, and media entity headquartered in New York City. Once in Singapore, he has never gone back, though his time is also divided between India and the United Kingdom.
Veeru juggles three business hats — founder & director at Coromandel Productions, Singapore; co-owner at Barn Media, United Kingdom; and owner at the bakery venture Butter. Sugar. Magic, Singapore, with his wife, a pastry chef — and is the Head of Sport at AMM Foundation as part of his philanthropic responsibilities.
The AMM Foundation runs four schools and one polytechnic college in Tamil Nadu for underprivileged children under its Education vertical, and these schools act as the talent pipeline for MYFA.
Veeru’s salaried role at the Foundation is fairly recent, starting only about two years ago, but he was actively putting in work for much longer than that. The germ of an idea he had shared with the Foundation around 2008 — “we should do something with sport to keep the kids away from bad habits” — later took shape as MYFA.
Here, too, Veeru’s professional turns took him closer to his passion. On September 1, 2016, with substantial film production experience under his belt and still under 30 years of age, he launched Coromandel Productions. And through his work in this field, he acquired Borussia Dortmund as a client; that, in turn, led to the current sports partnership.
About the goal of his filmmaking, he says, “We’ve been able to tell lots of impactful stories. That’s what it’s about. We wanted to tell human interest, heartwarming and inspiring stories. Our tagline is ‘Beyond the Lens’. We like telling those happy stories, which I think are much needed in today’s world.”
In January 2020, Veeru’s Singapore-based production company took a stake in the UK-based Barn Media.
Together, these two companies service a wide range of clients, and marquee names include the International Cricket Council (ICC), the information technology giant Infosys, the real estate company Knight Frank, and the insurance company MSIG Singapore.
He himself is a sports enthusiast, and puts in quite a bit of tennis — three times a week on an average — between his various commitments in Singapore, India, and other countries.
MYFA’s pro club plans
With the depth and breadth of his personal association with sport and the academy’s groundbreaking work, can MYFA chart a career path to professional football for its students? Or will the focus remain on building disciplined and motivated team players who can find success in any field?
Veeru replies, “In the years to come, we aim to become a fully professional club. We could then start giving these kids a salary, eventually, once they finish their 12th grade. Right now, we lose the majority of the kids, as they go to college etc. So, they’re only playing till the time they’re in school.”
Referring to a bigger new MYFA facility that has expanded the scope of training, he adds, “We’re now playing in the AIFF (All-India Football Federation) youth league matches. There, they’re absorbed back into the system as coaches, senior players etc. Some of them don’t pursue football; they go for higher studies and get a job somewhere. Some have pursued football in other parts of the country.
“But largely, that’s something we’re trying to change, because we lose the children after 12th grade. Now with our new facility, we’re trying to absorb them back into the system. Now with the youth leagues running, we want to become a professional club where they can earn a salary.”
The many companies within the Murugappa Group already offer employment avenues to the students of the AMM Foundation schools and the football academy. However, a full-fledged club would help MYFA retain the top talent coming out of the academy.
While the possibilities are limitless, Veeru’s young family — his baby is just over a year old now — and his packed business travel schedule mean it has to be an all-hands-on-the-deck effort at MYFA to score wins like the recent Germany trip.
As he says in the LinkedIn post: “It really has taken an army to make this all possible. From the team at our A.M.M. Foundation who work tirelessly day-in, day-out to German Missions and the Foreign Office, along with our incredible partners in Dortmund, this truly is a landmark moment.
“A massive thank you to every single person in the ecosystem who played their part. While our partnership with BVB goes from strength to strength, experiences such as these re-emphasise the fact that sport is perhaps one of the best vehicles to bring about social change and social inclusion. Whether these boys make it to the big leagues or not is irrelevant, we just want these experiences to shape them into better human beings.”
