Raju Menon was born in 1962 in a middle class family at Kodungallur, Thrissur and brought up at Cheekilode village in Kozhikode, Kerala.
Growing up in a sleepy village deep in the townships of Calicut, Kerala, Raju Menon embraced the early-rising, hardworking life of a diligent boy brought up by strict parents. His parents instilled excellence in their son, a quality that helped him form the positive habits that would later on be the foundation for his overriding success in school and in life.
He completed his schooling at Kolathoor Government High School, Calicut. After completing his Post Graduation in 1984, he became a Chartered Accountant. His appetite to learning did not stop after becoming a CA. He pursued his studies by acquiring a degree in law from Government Law College Calicut and later passed his Certified Public Accountants Exam from United States of America in 2001.
Raju Menon was trained with leading chartered accounting firms in India & then in the UAE, before starting his own professional practice in 1994.
Establishing Morison Menon
Raju Menon built the Morison Menon Group in the year 1996 as a three member CA practice and today Morison Menon is a well respected audit and consulting firm in UAE. He is currently the Chairman & Managing Partner of Morison Menon Group.
Morison Menon’s affiliation with Morison International was established in 1999. Morison International is a world- wide group of professional business advisors founded in the UK in 1989. Morison International saw in Raju a credible partner who was well established in the Middle East, had clients across several verticals and had institutionalized business practices that met global standards. The alliance was a win-win situation for both with Morison International getting a strong foothold in Middle East and Raju getting the backing and strong global support and innovative practices of Morison International.
Success Mantra
To a large extent the credit of Morison Menon’s success and growth is due to the Chartered Accountants and other professionals that the firm continues to hire from India to build the audit practice in the Middle East. The credibility that the firm has been able to achieve amongst the local business community is a credit to Raju’s vision and business acumen and the team he has been able to put at Morison Menon.
Morison Menon firmly stands by its principle of integrity and personalized client service and never compromises to its core principles, even at the expense of losing clients. The firm has consciously avoided the maxim of ‘growth at any cost’ and has systems and internal controls in place to ensure that the firm does not trade its credibility at any point of time.
A significant milestone that Morison Menon was able to achieve was in bringing about a paradigm shift in the mindset of the UAE government entities and local companies, about the professional competence of Indian talent, long before India began to be recognized as a global Information Technology power house. Today the clientele of Morison Menon include important government entities of UAE, large corporations and SME’s.
Considering the recessionary trends in the market and the “hire and fire” approach practiced by many organizations, one cannot fail to notice the long years of service that employees have put in at Morison Menon.
His belief in humanism, secular approach and empowering women is best highlighted in the composition of leadership and staff in the Morison Menon group, It can be described as a mini-India with people practicing different faith and still working towards a common goal of ‘building better businesses globally’.
Even today, Raju knows each of his employees by first name and never misses an opportunity to interact with employees and their families.
Morison Menon has truly been one of the firms that has bridged the gap and provided credible audit, accounting and consulting services to firms that look for services of professional audit firms beyond BIG 4. They have also been able to match the BIG 4 in service offerings and service quality in a more cost-effective fashion.
Today Morison Menon is a respectable name in the Audit, Accounting and Consulting space in the Middle East. The group has 15+ global offices spread across UAE, Oman, Qatar and India. The group employs about 550 professionals in GCC and India, majority of them being Indians. In India, Raju started an IT services and BPO firm at KINFRA, Calicut in the year 2007. The firm has been steadily making progress and employs local talent from India.
Morison Menon has never had to work hard to retain its staff. “Being a people-based organization, we are happy to be able to create a good work atmosphere and great work culture, where people enjoy their work and are given complete independence in respective functions,” Raju points out.
Awards and Accolades
Raju’s initiatives in creating businesses across the globe, nurturing these businesses through Indian talent, never failing to support cause of Indian Diaspora and support for Social causes and conceiving lasting solutions for the under privileged sections back in Kerala, has been recognized by various bodies and forums. A few of the awards and honors that have been bestowed on Raju include:
Listed in Top 100 Indian Leaders in the UAE by Forbes Magazine Middle East
Raju Menon was recently listed at the 60th spot in the Top 100 Indian Leaders in the United Arab Emirates by the Forbes Magazine Middle East. This is the first time that this publication has put together a ranking of Indian business leaders in the Middle East.
Vice Chairman and Chairman Elect –Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Dubai Chapter
Raju Menon is currently the Vice Chairman of the Dubai Chapter of ICAI and will take charge as the Chairman of the chapter for the period 2014 – 2015.
2013 Arabian Business Power list
Listed in the 2013 Arabian Business Power list by the popular Arabian Business magazine.
Shri. V K Krishna Menon Award
Raju Menon received Shri. V K Krishna Menon Award from Kerala in 2008 for outstanding contribution in the field of Management and Business Studies.
Bharat Gaurav Award
India International Friendship Society (IIFS), New Delhi, has awarded the globally reputed “Bharat Gaurav Award” (Pride of India) for the year 2009 to Raju Menon, Chairman and Founder of Morison Menon Group. The Award and a Certificate of Excellence were presented on January 7th, 2010 at a glittering function at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.
NRI Visionary Award
Vision Foundation Gujarat, India has awarded the “NRI Visionary Award” to Raju Menon, Chairman and Managing Partner of Morison Menon Group. The award has been conferred on Raju Menon for raising the prestige of Indian Professionals globally and specially in the Middle East. The award was handed over to Mr. Raju Menon at a glittering ceremony held on 23rd November 2012 at Tagore Hall, Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Vision Foundation based out of Gujarat the land of Mahatma Gandhi does exemplary social work amongst under privileged people across India.
CA Girija and CA Raju Menon Foundation
Even before the foundation was formed, for more than a decade, Girija and Raju have been involved in lending their support to home for aged, a school for differently abled children and for the cause of education by providing scholarships to meritorious students.
Girija and Raju have also been helping many families by helping at least one member of their family getting job in the UAE thus transforming the life of individuals and their families. Currently the direct activities of the foundation are limited to Kozhikode in Kerala.
Raju Menon always believed in giving back to society in whatever way possible. The CA Girija and CA Raju Menon Foundation formally formed in 2004, is continuing the work that was earlier carried out by Raju by working with the disadvantaged section of the society, by supporting causes that brings difference to the lives of people.
Raju Menon & Family
Raju is supported in his initiatives by his wife Girija, who is also a Chartered Accountant and whose advise in professional and social causes are of immense value which he never fails to acknowledge. The couple has three school going kids whose nurturing is laced with teachings of religion, values and humanism.
MORISON MENON GROUP ENTITIES
- Morison Menon Chartered Accountants
- Morison (UAE) Consulting
- Zenologics Solutions LLC
- Morison Menon Corporate Services
- Morison Muscat Chartered Accountants LLC
- Morison Muscat Corporate Services
- SKCA Morison Chartered Accountants LLC – Qatar
- K B Nambiar & Associates, Bangalore- Mangalore
- IPIX Consulting Pvt. Ltd.-Bangalore
- RSPH and Associates –New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Ujjain, Nasik – India
- R Menon & Associates, Kochi – India
- IPIX BPO Pvt. Ltd., Calicut, Kerala – India
- IPIX Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Calicut, Kerala – India