"It had a great underlying water asset, and I was really confident that the Jains could pull through. They had their name on the door, so failure was not an option for that family."
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It was a long haul back. The lossmaking divisions were either sold or shut down, and the debt the company owed to some 50-odd banks was consolidated and paid off.
"While we focused on getting the finances in order and introducing a culture of cash-flow management, we let the Jains do what they knew best--make and sell their products," says Jacob, now a partner at Richard Branson's renewables-focused Virgin Green Fund in San Francisco.
Aqua doubled its money in three years, selling in 2005 to a group of investors, including Temasek. "But we sold too early," says Jacob ruefully, noting that Jain Irrigation's market capitalization has since jumped to almost $1 billion.
Image: An Indian farmer rests on piles of mosambi (Citrus Sinensis) at Gaddiannaram Fruit Market on the outskirts of Hyderabad. | Photograph: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images
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