BY BARBARA PINCKNEY
Business consulting, construction, property
management, herbal supplements and auto
repair. The Lotus Group, a six-year-old Warrensburg
company, does all of these things. And soon, it
will be adding public transportation, childcare
and wood pellet manufacturing to the list.
“The great thing about it is, everything we do
has almost no connection to one another,” said
Ash Anand, the 37-year-old CEO of Lotus Group.
“That is by choice. And I can tell you one thing,
I am not stopping at this point.”
Lotus employs about 20 people at its River
Street headquarters, and about 300 more in an
office in India. But Anand said that, with everything
he has in the works, local employment
could reach 100 by the end of 2015.
The transit company, which he said is 90
percent ready to go, would provide daily bus
service between downtown Glens Falls and
other Warren County communities, including
Lake George and Chestertown.
“We really think there is a need,” he said.
“There is no such transportation today. Glens
Falls transportation stops at a certain point and
people who live in Warrensburg or some other
town cannot access any public transport.”
Lotus also is about a month away from opening
a learning day care center, which Anand
believes would be the only one in Warrensburg.
The company purchased a 5,000-square-foot
River Street building that had formerly been
used for adult day care, and will be able to accommodate
up to 90 children, he said.
“I am on the board of education for
Warrensburg School District and we are lacking
in after school programs, literacy programs
[and] homework clubs,” Anand said. “Plus there
is nothing here for people who don’t know what
to do with the kids when they go to work. So that
is what we’ll be getting into.”
Next to open, likely later this year, will be a
wood pellet manufacturing plant slated for a 30-acre spot in Thurman. Anand said the company
would collect brush, felled trees and other
yard waste from towns, saw mills, landscapers,
and properties Lotus itself manages, and turn
it into biofuel.
“Every single local town has a problem getting
rid of the brush,” he said. “And all the trees,
where do they go? Why not reuse them to create
something that will be a little more effective in
managing your heating costs?”
Anand is a true entrepreneur who is always
thinking of gaps he can fill. He said the funny
thing is that while he is in many lines of business,
none of them are exactly what he studied
in college–accounting and finance.
He was working as a banker seven years ago
when he was hired as a consultant for a large
company. This opened his eyes to opportunity,
and in 2009 he started Lotus Analytics, which
in his words is “basically a ‘business doctor.’ ”
“We work with a lot of businesses–small,
medium, large,” he said. “It’s not just a matter
of telling them [what they are doing that is]
good or bad, it is finding a solution to fix the
bad. Ultimately the whole idea is to make the
businesses that work with us profitable and
improve their operational skills.”
Lotus Analytics provides help with human resources,
logistics, marketing, inventory, finance,
and just about every other aspect of running a
business. Anand said it is the only company in
the country that offers such a broad array of
services to the restaurant and retail industry, its
largest client category. Other industries served
include technology and health care.
The company currently serves clients in 31
states and Canada. Anand said all of the growth
has been through word of mouth. He estimated
that Lotus Analytics has spent less than $200
on advertising in the past six years.
As time went on, Anand realized that if he
was successful in telling others how to run
their businesses, he could run businesses
too. He decided to start a firm, called Lotus
Construction, to build new homes and restore historic properties. A side business, Lotus Support
Services, manages about 60 commercial
and residential properties, including hotels and
vacation homes.
The next business Anand started was more
personal. He is a diabetic, as are all the members
of his immediate family. When they could
not find a product without chemicals or side
effects, Anand did his own research and created
an herbal supplement, giving birth to Lotus Nutraceuticals.
The business now produces a full
line of dietary supplements, including formulas
for people with arthritis and high cholesterol.
“Every product we make has a very minimal
number of ingredients, and they are highly
specialized,” Anand said. “One ingredient in
our diabetes formula is so rare it is only found
in four places in the entire world.”
Lotus Nutraceuticals did a soft launch in
2013, on the website Lotusforlife.com, and officially
opened last year. The products are also
available on Amazon.com and other sites, and
Anand said the company is “in the process of
getting together with some of major big box
retailers.”
The final division of the Lotus Group, at this
point, is Lotus Auto Xperts. The automotive
repair shop, at 98 River St. in Warrensburg,
had been a client of Lotus Analytics. When
the owner decided to give up, Anand bought
the shop.
Each Lotus Group division has its own manager,
all of whom report to Anand. Support functions,
such as accounting and human resources,
are centralized to take advantage of economies
of scale. By keeping costs low “you have room
to experiment,” Anand said.
He said he is not concerned about growing
too fast in too many directions. As he sees it,
the keys to success are believing in yourself and
the talents of the people around you, sticking to
your plan and not being afraid to fail.
“From an entrepreneurial standpoint look
at it this way–I can do 12 things, maybe four
will fail,” he said. “But eight are successful so
you can branch off of that. The best part is you
learn as you go. I am not a transportation guy,
but today I am having to learn everything about
public transport. It makes us more knowledgeable
as each day goes by.”
Photo Photo/Todd Bissonette Photography