New Delhi: The young Shantanu Naidu, the trusted assistant of industrialist and national icon Ratan Tata, who breathed his last at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital on Wednesday at the age of 86, remembered his boss in a heartfelt post on social media.
The 30-year-old Shantanau Naidu, who is a General Manager at the Office of Ratan Tata, came close to the chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, due to shared love of the duo for animals.
How Shantanu Naidu met Ratan Tata
Ratan Tata was very much impressed by Naidu when he created reflective collars for stray dog to prevent them from being hit by vehicles in the night. Ratan Tata and Naidu met in 2014. Ratan Tata later invited Shantanu Naidu to work with him and their friendship blossomed since them.
Founded GoodFellows for senior citizens
Shantanu Naidu accompanied Ratan Tata during rare public appearances of chairman emeritus of Tata Sons in the last few years of his life. The 30-year-old entrepreneur is also credited with the founding of GoodFellows, a startup a for companionship for senior citizens. Naidu did his MBA from Cornell University.
Developed Tiger anti-poaching device and reflective collars
According to Shantanu Naidu’s LinkedIn profile, he designed sensor circuit based anti-poaching device for Tigers in India and facilitated its implementation through forest department in 4 different National reserves of the country. He also designed reflective collars for from waste denim and industrial fabric to prevent accidents in India that reduced animal related night accidents by 37 percent.
Naidu also claimed to have redesigned geometry and layout of 387 car body metal parts saving 87 kg input steel per vehicle which reduced raw material expenses.
An engineer by profession, Shantanu Naidu, who also interned in Tata Technologies, also published a paper on Body in White in International Journal Of Automotive Engineers and led design team to prepare guidelines to eliminate design defects which is now used by all designers in Tata company.
